


Kingdom Hearts IV

by Baithin



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, F/M, Fantasy, Gen, Light Angst, Light Romance, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, epic plot, everyone gets spotlight, features the return of some favorite characters too, long story, not just Kairi, original plot but combining all the elements so far, themes of finding oneself, themes of retribution and redemption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-11-06 18:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 51,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17945138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baithin/pseuds/Baithin
Summary: [Major KH3 spoilers.] Six months after the Second Keyblade War, Kairi struggles to move on with her life. The light prevailed over darkness, but in the absence of the x-Blade's true wielder, balance hasn't been restored, and a new threat rises to endanger all three Realms. Angry at how little she contributed to the war and tired of being left behind, she sets out on a journey of her own, but faces foes greater than Sora ever did.In the process, while trying to prove her strength, she learns that maybe the light isn't so infallible after all.[Contains some Disney worlds, though not many, because this fic is meant to maintain the feel of a Kingdom Hearts game. Bit of a fix, too.]





	1. Destiny Islands

**Author's Note:**

> I was kinda mad about how KH3 ended up and how the narrative treated Kairi especially, so here's my continuation of it. Mostly canon compliant.

The Destiny Islands seemed as if their light had dimmed since the end of the Second Keyblade War. The sun didn’t shine nearly as bright on the crests of waves, thalassa shells failed to glisten with their usual luster, and at night the stars in the sky seemed shrouded by a thin black veil.

Or perhaps it was just Kairi’s light that had dimmed.

It had been just over six months since the battle with Xehanort and his thirteen Seekers of Darkness, since she fought on the front lines of battle alongside her friends. Six months since the battle where she was too weak to protect herself. Six months since she had died, and Xehanort successfully forged the x-Blade. Six months since Sora had given his all to take her place.

Now she was alone.

Sure, she still had her other friends. At first, they had put forth all their time and effort and resources to search for Sora. They tried to use Roxas and Xion’s and Ven’s connections to Sora’s heart. Kairi even traveled alongside Riku to a dozen different worlds to see if they could find any sign of him. But eventually, everyone seemed to gradually lose hope of ever seeing Sora return, or else put their confidence in Sora and reasoned that one day he would find his way home to them, as he always did.

Kairi wanted to believe that. Truly, more than anything and anyone, she was the one who always had the most faith in him no matter what. But this time a small part of her felt doubt. Her memories of Sora using the power of waking to find her heart again after Xehanort killed her were hazy, but she had the distinct feeling there was no easy way back for him. She remembered the feeling of not having a physical form, of a bright blue sky and the whitest clouds she had ever seen. She remembered stars, and darkness, and weightlessness most of all. Sometimes, her dreams filled in the blanks and her imagination conjured up all sorts of phantoms in her rare moments of sleep.

Sora reaching out to her.

Sora stabbing himself with his Keyblade.

Sora becoming a Heartless. Sora shining with light so bright that it blinded her. And Kairi was falling, falling…

She startled herself awake, not realizing that she had drifted off at her desk. Before she dozed off, she had been writing Sora a letter, just like she did when she was in the middle of her Keyblade training with Axel. She knew it was unlikely he’d never read them, but even so, the thought gave her comfort. She looked out her window, yawning and stretching, and realized that it was roughly the middle of the night. Moonlight reflected on the water, though the moon itself was a thin crescent tonight. Unwilling to go to bed just yet, she returned to her letter and began writing.

 _Everyone stopped searching for you months ago, but I know it’s because the alternative was to lose ourselves with the lack of any leads. Still, we haven’t given up. We know you’ll return to us._ Every day, Kairi felt herself doubting a little more, but tapped the pen to her lips and kept writing. _Eventually they all had to get back to their lives. Everyone seems to be doing well, all things considered._

_Aqua has taken on the role of Keyblade Master pretty well. She lives in the Land of Departure again, training all sorts of new Keyblade wielders. So many of them have been popping up now since the end of our battle, can you believe it? I even went there for a little while myself to learn from her, but it got to be too much after a while. “Master Aqua” is busy all the time, but you can tell she loves it, especially since Terra and Ven are always at her side to help her._

_Riku helps her out, too. Can you imagine him as a teacher? It’s pretty funny sometimes, but I think he prefers going out to all the worlds to find more Keyblade wielders to bring to Aqua. He seems to spend most of his time doing that, actually, so we never really know where he is at any given moment. I think he’s also hoping he’ll eventually run into you, Sora._

_Roxas likes to split his time between Twilight Town, to be with his friends, and Radiant Garden, where Axel, Xion, and Naminé live now. They’re all really getting the chance to live their lives for the first time. Aqua’s always yelling at Axel to come train with her, but he kind of blows her off a lot to be with Roxas, Xion, and Isa. He’ll always be a slacker, won’t he?_

_Now that I think about it, I haven’t heard from Mickey, Donald, and Goofy in a while. But I don’t see why I would, they don’t really have a reason to come to the Destiny Islands anymore._ Thinking back, the last time she actually saw the King was that day at the beach, which was also the last time everyone was together. That was a few days after Sora brought Kairi back. She had washed ashore at the Destiny Islands, fully expecting Sora to jump out of the surf at her side, and for the next few days everyone assumed he would reappear.

So they had fun. They waited. And Kairi sat under the paopu tree looking over the horizon day after day, until she thought he saw him sitting next to her, grasping her hand. The others only saw her sitting alone, and when she broke down crying and everyone surrounded her, their mirth gone, she could only say that Sora was well and truly gone through all of her sobbing.

She stood up, pushing her chair back with a loud scrape against her floor. She nearly felt the tears coming, even now after half a year since that day, and mustered up all of her strength to push them back. “I’m through crying,” she said to herself.

She just wished she wasn’t so alone.

She had her father, though he was as absent as ever. She had Selphie, and Tidus and Wakka as well, but none of them understood everything she had gone through. Though she supposed she only had herself to blame for her loneliness - she had been pushing everyone away by not staying with Aqua to continue her training.

She held out her hand, summoning her Keyblade into being. “I’m through crying,” she repeated to herself. “And I’m through waiting around. I’ll find you, Sora, even if I have to do it alone.”

She rummaged through the mess of her bedroom, pushing aside pictures she drew years and years ago of her and Sora and Riku and Selphie. She kicked aside piles of old clothing and stacks of unread books and other various knicknacks. An old shell charm she made for Sora once caught her eye, which she considered for a moment and then tied around her wrist. She packed a small rucksack with a few changes of clothes, including the outfit that the Good Fairies made for her, and went downstairs to pack some food and scribble her father a goodbye note. After that, she went back up to her bedroom, which felt far too small since she returned home, and looked over it one last time.

Her unmade bed. The thin layer of dust that had covered almost every surface. The unfolded laundry. All of it indicated that her room had been lived in for the past several months, and indeed she rarely left it nowadays, but she couldn’t call it home anymore. Not when the people she cared about most weren’t here.

She opened up the window by her desk and climbed out of it onto her roof, where she looked at the dark island across the bay where she spent most of her childhood with her friends. A deep breath of crisp night air filled her lungs, and she took a moment to let the breeze ruffle her hair, which she had neglected to cut for a while now. She held her Keyblade out in front of her with both hands, summoning her resolve to form her Keyblade armor around her body like Aqua taught her (mostly for the purpose of returning to the Land of Departure without a gummi ship). Just as she was about to close her eyes, a bright light seared across the horizon, and for a moment Kairi thought she was looking at a shooting star.

She realized she was mistaken when the thin strip of light over the horizon stayed in place, and seemed to be getting larger, as if it was a mouth opening wide. White lights dropped out of it like little stars, scattering over the island and the town, and when they hit the ground they formed into solid shapes. Perplexed, Kairi climbed down from her roof and ran down the paved path closer to the center of town, which was empty of all people due to the time of night.

The things she thought were stars lit up the town square, and even with a solid form they shone with an unfamiliar light, dancing around a water fountain. For one horrifying moment, she thought they were Nobodies, but they didn’t move with the jerky twitches and convulsions that Nobodies did. Instead, many of them floated in place, serene, moving as if underwater. Many even had a shape that somewhat resembled an upright manta ray, flat with pointed flaps like wings that swayed even without wind, and heads that lacked any details except for a ring hovering around them. None of them had any defining features, and some even had shapes she couldn’t describe at all.

“What… are you?” Kairi found herself asking. The only sound they made was a gentle, almost pleasant ringing. One of them rose up and glyphs shone around it with the familiar crackle of magic, and several bolts of lightning struck one of the houses around her, demolishing the wooden walls and stone foundation. “Hey!” She hefted her Keyblade and ran at the unknown creature, swinging at it, but her Keyblade barely seemed to disturb it.

More of them attacked, swaying toward the houses all around the town with an almost lazy, gentle gait, but despite that they seemed to move quickly, which gave it the effect of being more eerie than anything. Kairi swung at them some more as screams tore through the night; the townspeople had awoken. And she was the only one on the whole island who could protect them.

With renewed determination she swung at her foes, but she may as well have been swinging a stick for all the good her Keyblade did. A creature that somewhat resembled a hermit crab with a shining white carapace, almost like a suit of armor, rammed into several houses as if they were made of paper. Her Keyblade bounced harmlessly off its armor, so instead she doused it with water magic and then blasted it with her strongest thunder spell, which finally seemed to do the trick. It dissipated into light when it died, twinkling away like stars.

Another thing she noticed, very early on, was that these creatures barely seemed to pay the townspeople much mind, only attacking when they were near. In fact, they seemed to mostly attack just Kairi herself with a vicious determination, as if everyone else was a ghost. But there were too many of them, and only one of her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever.

“Hey! Over here!” she shouted at them, doing everything she could to draw their attention. She flashed light spells and threw objects at them, but that barely did anything. “C’mon!” She felt weak again, as helpless as she was before she even wielded a Keyblade. “Please… anyone… Help me.”

“Gah! Help me!” she heard someone shout. She turned toward a side street, spotting a man scrambling away from one of the creatures in terror. She watched, frozen, as it leapt on him and enveloped him in light. He screamed, and his voice was cut short when she saw his heart rise into the sky and vanish. A moment later, a new light creature formed and took his place.

“What…?” she asked, her voice cracking. “How? What are these? What is happening?”

She wished Sora would show up then. He would save her. And then her chest tightened at the thought - she couldn’t rely on him, not anymore.

Sora wasn’t coming. No one was coming.

Kairi put her hand over her heart and closed her eyes, concentrating on the light - the light of a pure heart -  she knew was still inside her. She had to reach deeper than usual to find that light of hope, of love, and every other positive emotion she could muster, but the light in her heart was still strong. It had to be stronger than these creatures. She focused all of her thoughts on Sora, Riku, Naminé, Aqua, and all the others, and light burst forth from her body, warmer than anything she had felt in a long, long time.

The light creatures stopped their assault, all hovering and regarding her, perhaps sensing her light as the brightest one there. “Please, stop this!” she begged them, her arms spread wide. “I don’t know what you are or what you want, but you can’t hurt these people!”

They all came toward her then, and in that moment Kairi knew that she had to leave. They bowled over and through everything in their paths, and no matter what she did she would never be able to stop them all. Her only hope was to find the others, and pray that when she left, these creatures would, too.

Her armor formed around her and her Keyblade transformed into something of a raft beneath her feet, and she flew forward through a pathway she had opened to a different world. Her last sight of the Destiny Islands was a blinding white light, brighter than she had ever seen before.  But unlike any other light she had seen, this light felt sterile and cold.


	2. The Land of Departure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unsure of what to do in light of this new threat, Kairi flees to her friends, hoping Masters Aqua and Riku have some answers.

 

The journey across the pathways of light never felt so long before as Kairi fled from her home, intent on reaching the first place that popped into her head: the Land of Departure, seat of Master Aqua as she trained a new generation of Keyblade wielders. She thought back to those strange creatures, seemingly made of light, as she helplessly watched them ravage her home. She wondered if the townspeople were okay, if they were safer with Kairi gone. But what was that searing light that enveloped everything, just as she was escaping?

She clenched her gauntleted hand. Like the rest of her armor, it was black highlighted with light pink, almost like coral, and covered her from head to toe. She still felt uncomfortable in it, and somehow she felt that even fully armored she couldn’t be very imposing, but supposed it got the job done.

The pathway opened up to a deep, navy sky, lit up by the light of a million stars. Kairi watched it for a moment atop her raft, then collected herself and steered toward the ground and the golden spires of the Land of Departure. Mercifully, this world was still untouched by the creatures back home.

Kairi dispelled her armor as she walked through the castle’s front doors, which shrunk to a single finger gauntlet on her right hand, like a large, pink ring. The entrance hall was quiet, as everyone was presumably sleeping, so Kairi made her way to the audience chamber. With its high, vaulted ceiling and marble hallways, Kairi wasn’t sure if she could ever call this place home, but Aqua and the others seemed to bring their own warmth here.

She found Aqua standing to the side of the enormous chairs - more or less thrones -  at the back of the chamber, staring at a picture that hung on the wall in quiet contemplation. The Keyblade Master heard her footsteps and turned around, her mouth dropping open when she saw the arrival.

“Kairi! What’re you doing here this time of night? I wasn’t expecting you, you could have called!” Aqua seemed to sense something wrong at once, tensing as Kairi approached her with a somber expression.

“Hi, Aqua,” she said quietly, as if afraid to wake the whole castle with her failure. “I came running as soon as I could. The Destiny Islands were attacked.” Her eyes burned and she felt a single tear fall down her cheek. “There were these… monsters. And I was took weak to stop them.”

Aqua furrowed her brow, but stepped closer to Kairi and brushed some of her unruly hair out of her face.  Kairi was comforted by the gesture, by human touch. “Heartless?”

Kairi shook her head. “No. Well, I don’t know. But they looked as if they were made of light.”

“Creatures made of light? Attacking the town?” Aqua asked, tilting her head. “That’s impossible.”

“I know what I saw,” she choked out, trying to hold back her sobs. “And the whole island fell to them. I don’t know if anyone made it. And I think… I think I saw them take someone’s heart. My Keyblade barely did anything.” The tears fell faster now that Kairi confronted her failure, her inability to do anything. “I should have trained with you more. I’m still weak.”

Aqua pulled her into a hug, and Kairi sank into it. “No you’re not,” she said softly. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You did what you could for those people, and you made it out. I’ll get Terra, Ven, and Riku and we’ll go back to see what we can do. Maybe they were Nobodies. I hope this isn’t a sign of a greater darkness returning…”

Kairi shook her head again. “No, I told you. It doesn’t make any sense to me either, but I know it was light, and they weren’t Nobodies. It felt cold, it felt unfamiliar, but it was  _ light _ . And if my Keyblade barely did anything, I don’t think yours will, either…”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Aqua said, but she must have seen the fire in Kairi’s eyes so she quickly added on to her statement. “But I believe you. Wait here, let me go wake Terra and Ven.”

“Riku’s not here?” Kairi asked. She had hoped he was there. She wanted to tell him about their home in person.

Aqua shook her head. “No… He’s still away at other worlds. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Kairi nodded and wiped her eyes, turning to the picture on the wall as Aqua left. It was a photo that they took the day they were all on the beach at the Destiny Islands six months ago. It was when Kairi returned to the world of the living without Sora, commemorating their victory over Master Xehanort and all of the reunions they made and friendships they forged. Even though Sora wasn’t there, they still smiled, because they yet carried hope in their hearts that Sora would come back to them. Kairi saw herself, standing between Axel and Naminé, and even she wore the ghost of a smile on her lips. She looked at Ventus and Roxas, arm in arm like brothers, both with an uncanny resemblance to Sora. Riku with a hand on his hip, standing near Terra and Xion. She saw Aqua kneeling in the front with Mickey, Goofy, and Donald, the latter still covered in sand. Isa stood on Axel’s other side, arms crossed, while Hayner, Pence, and Olette waved from the back. Despite the circumstances, it was still a happy day, even if Sora was conspicuously absent from the photo.

“Kairi!” Ven called out to her from down the hall, running up to her. “Are you alright?”

She nodded, spotting Terra and Aqua approaching behind him. “I’m not hurt.” She repeated to Terra and Ven what she already told Aqua, and neither of them knew what to make of the strange creatures, either.

“This world is fine,” said Terra. “Untouched by any of those creatures. And we haven’t heard anything from Riku out in the field, either.”

“Do you know if he’s okay? What if he already fell to them somewhere?” Kairi asked, her hands clasped in front of her.

“Nah, Riku’s tough,” said Ven. “And we just heard from him earlier today. But we can give him a call again if you want.”

“No… no,” Kairi responded. “But we should call everyone in the morning and tell them what happened.”

Aqua nodded. “I agree. I want to go consult Master Yen Sid, as well, but I’ll have to go visit him in person. He still hasn’t gotten the hang of how to use a gummiphone,” she said with a sigh. “I suppose we don’t get moments of peace for very long, do we?”

Kairi said nothing to that. She barely had any peace to enjoy since the end of the Keyblade War.

Light footsteps rushed down the hall where Ven and Terra came from, and the light pitter-patter was accompanied by a high voice making fussy sounds. “Ven! I woke up and you were gone, is everything okay?”

Kairi blinked in surprise when she saw the creature, barely more than two feet tall. She thought it was a moogle at first, but then realized it was a plush cat with a cape, walking upright. She had never seen such a thing. “Uh… Who’s this?”

Ven knelt down and hugged it. “Sorry, little guy! Yeah, I’m fine!” He grinned at Kairi. “This is Chirithy. Chirithy, meet Kairi. He’s… well, a Chirithy. He’s pretty much a Dream Eater. All of the Keyblade wielders from the time before the First Keyblade War had these as friends to accompany them.”

She smiled at Chirithy, who waved at her in greeting. “Um, it’s nice to meet you!” She looked at Ven. “How do you know about that time? I don’t remember hearing anything about a Chirithy in any of the stories my grandmother told me.”

Terra and Aqua looked at each other. “We’ve got a bit to catch you up on,” said Terra.  “He showed up when we came back here after all the fighting.”

Aqua folded her hands together. “Chirithy here is from that age, and he’s been slowly remembering some details about his life the past few days.”

“Huh? Wow, that’s amazing!”

Ven nodded. “Yeah! And the weird part is… he says I’m from that time, too. I don’t know how, and I don’t remember anything except that Chirithy is special to me. I’ve been hoping more would come back as he told us more, but…”

“It’s okay, Ven!” said Chirithy. “I’ll try to remember enough for the both of us! I kinda lost some of my memory when I came back from the Final World,” he told Kairi.

She tilted her head. Something about that seemed familiar. “The… Final World?”

“Apparently, the place where we go after our hearts and bodies both die,” Aqua explained.

Kairi nodded and averted her eyes. “That’s where Sora found me,” she said with certainty. “I know it.”

Chirithy chirped at her in agreement. “I met Sora there once,” he said. “Before that. He was lost, but helped all of you find your hearts again. I remember that much.”

Kairi knelt down next to him. “Is Sora there now?”

The plush cat made a sad sound as he averted his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “It’s okay.” She forced a smile. “So, how is Ven from the time before the First Keyblade War? Wouldn’t that make him a really, really old man?”

“Hey!” Ven protested, as Aqua and Terra both laughed. “But, uh… We don’t know. Still trying to get details on that one. But I was apparently chosen to be something called a ‘Dandelion’ by one of the Foretellers.”

“The Foretellers?” Kairi asked.

Terra crossed his arms. “The six apprentices to a man known only as the ‘Master of Masters,’ according to Chirithy, who each led their own Union of Keyblade wielders. He apparently foresaw the war coming, and gave them each tasks to prepare for it in secret.”

“I never knew what the others were told, but one of them, Master Ava, was commanded to create the Dandelions,” said Chirithy. “A secret group made up of Keyblade wielders with strong hearts from each Union to survive the Keyblade War, and keep the light alive.”

Kairi gasped. “The children with the light in their hearts in the aftermath of the war,” she said, remembering her grandmother’s favorite story. “They are the reason why our worlds never fell to darkness!”

“Exactly,” said Aqua. “And, apparently, our Ven here is one of them.” Kairi looked at Ven in a new light. He was a character from her favorite story come to life!

Ven could only shrug. “But I don’t remember any of that. I don’t remember anything about my life before Master Xehanort brought me to live here and train under Master Eraqus, or how I could have possibly lived for so long. It’s… really weird to think about.”

“And the answer died with them, apparently,” Terra said, his voice gruff.

“What about the other Dandelions?” Kairi asked Chirithy. “Do you know what happened to them?”

“I do not,” he said sadly. “Nor do I know what happened to the other Foretellers as they led their Unions into war with each other. All I know is that they used to be really close friends before everything happened.”

“How did the war start?” Kairi asked. She couldn’t imagine how a friendship like that could crumble so disastrously.

“The Master of Masters disappeared without a trace, and the Foretellers feared a traitor in their ranks. They distrusted everyone else, forged and broke alliances, questioned everything and everyone. They fought over the light in the world as they struggled with what to do with it and the encroaching darkness. And then the war began between all five Unions, and the Dandelions were left to pick up the pieces,” Chirithy explained.

Kairi stood up, tapping a finger to her mouth while her other propped up her elbow. “Five Unions? I thought there were six apprentices.”

“The sixth apprentice vanished one day, too,” Chirithy said. “And… that’s about all I remember. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” said Aqua, kneeling down and patting him on the head. “You’ve been very helpful these past few days, Chirithy. Thank you.”

He trilled with happiness at her words, but then gave a loud yawn. “Ooh, I’m still really sleepy…”

“We should all get to bed,” said Terra. “We could use the rest, I’m sure.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Aqua, standing up straight. “I’ll show you to where you can sleep, Kairi. I’ll be heading to Master Yen Sid’s tower bright and early tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” said Kairi, holding a hand to her heart. “Good night, everyone.” As Aqua led her off to bed, the thoughts of all the night’s events filled her mind, and despite her weariness she wasn’t sure if she would be able to sleep. As she curled up under the covers in an extra room in some wing of the castle with all of the other Keyblade trainees, her thoughts whirled as she descended into a fitful sleep the moment she hit her pillow. She dreamt of walking through the Keyblade Graveyard and all of the Keyblades coming to life and attacking her, unable to summon her own weapon to fight them off.

* * *

 

The next morning, she was woken by the sounds of feet running outside her bedroom. After making sure she looked presentable and quickly brushing her teeth, she made her way out and through the dormitories to the mess hall. There were more children here than the last time she was at the Land of Departure - now Master Aqua had a dozen students, all varying in age from about ten to twenty. Kairi helped herself to a muffin and some fruit for breakfast at the buffet table and went to go find Ven and Terra, who sat together.

“Good morning,” she said, offering them a tired smile as she sat next to Ven. She patted Chirithy on the head, who sat on the table while they ate. “Did Aqua already leave?”

“Yeah, a couple hours ago,” said Terra.

“Master Aqua’s gone?” asked a younger girl, perhaps twelve, from the table behind Terra. “Where’d she go?”

Terra turned to her. “Don’t worry about it, Rem. I can look after all of you while she’s gone!”

“Yeah, right,” said a boy with blue hair next to Rem, sniggering. “Remember when you broke down a wall during a training exercise and almost blew up the castle?”

“Hey, that was an accident!” Terra protested.

“Machi, you can’t talk to our teachers like that!” said a serious-looking blond boy sitting across from him and Rem, aghast. He put down his playing cards to reprimand his friend, and for a moment Kairi was reminded of herself, Sora, and Riku when she looked at the three of them.

Ven grinned. “Terra and I will do just fine. I’ll keep him under control,” he said with a wink at the three kids. “Even if we’re not Keyblade Masters like Aqua.”

“I wish King Mickey would come visit again,” said Rem. “He was lots of fun.”

“What, we not fun enough for you?” Terra asked, grimacing. “Master Aqua won’t be gone long, but until then, it’s the Terra-Ven show! It’ll be the most fun you’ve ever had.”

Kairi and Ven laughed, but she jumped and cut herself short when she heard her gummiphone ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket, seeing that it was Axel calling. “Hello?”

“Kairi! Oh, man, you’re okay!” Axel looked frantic through the tiny screen, looking in every direction at things Kairi couldn’t see. Loud booming noises from the other end made Terra and Ven come to look over her shoulder. “Oh, they’re with you! Good!”

“Axel, what’s going on?” Kairi asked, biting her lip in worry. His spiky red hair looked more disheveled than usual, and she spotted people running back and forth behind him.

“Radiant Garden is under attack by some creatures,” he said. “We’re doing all we can to fight them off, but nothing seems to be working.” He looked back at the screen, directly at Kairi. “And get this - they’re made of  _ light _ . Can you believe that?”

Kairi, Ven, and Terra all looked at each other. “Yeah, we do,” Kairi said. “The same thing happened at the Destiny Islands.”

“Are you guys okay?” Terra asked. His voice was low, probably to keep the other kids from worrying or getting scared.

“We evacuated the city and got everyone holed up here in Ansem’s castle. It’s a bit crowded, but we’ll manage,” Axel replied. He groaned when he saw something happen off screen. “Aw, man! That was the outer wall, there’s some really big one tryin’ to ram this place down. We’re okay, though. Roxas and Xion and them are all out there fighting, at least for now, but Ansem was saying he wants them to come back.”

“We’ll come help you!” Kairi almost shouted into the phone. “Just hang on!”

“I gotta go!” he said. “Wish me luck!” Before Kairi could say anything else, he hung up.

“Radiant Garden, too…” Kairi said. That was her other home, before the Destiny Islands. “We have to do something.”

“We’ll go there together,” said Ven, making a fist.

Terra stood. “You two go, as soon as possible. I’m not happy about it, but I have to stay here. Someone’s got to hold the fort and look after everyone.”

Ven nodded. “Thanks, Terra!”

Kairi was already standing, ready to run out to the courtyard to depart. “Let’s go, Ven!”

Chirithy bounced atop the table. “I’ll come too, Ven!”

Ven frowned and patted him on the head. “No, you should stay here with Terra. He’ll need someone to look after him.”

Terra scowled. “What? Hey!”

Chirithy’s head dropped. “Aw, okay… I guess that’s an important job, too…”

Ven flashed them both a thumbs up and followed Kairi. Out in the courtyard, Kairi and Ven summoned their armor and prepared to depart just as Terra came running after them. “May your hearts be your guiding key,” he said. “Or… whatever. Just be safe, okay?”

They nodded. “We will,” said Ven. “Thanks.”

As they headed out into the space between worlds, Kairi resolved to do everything she could to save Radiant Garden. Axel called her for help, and was relying on her. She wouldn’t let him or the others down. She couldn’t.

  
  



	3. Radiant Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kairi and Ven arrive in Radiant Garden in the middle of the attack, intent on doing what they can to save their friends against this new threat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've put a lot of thought into each of the Keyblade wielders and their fighting styles, as if this was actually a video game. If we look at the differences between, for example, Aqua, Ven, and Terra in Birth by Sleep, they're all pretty balanced stat-wise, except that Aqua is geared more towards magic, Ven towards speed, and Terra towards strength. In this hypothetical KH4 game, Kairi would be a mix between Aqua and Ven - a speedy magic caster, but with pretty low strength. Also in this hypothetical game all the Keyblade wielders would be playable :P

Kairi and Ven landed in the city’s courtyard right outside of town, and Kairi scarcely had time to adjust to the morning sun when she was attacked by a ray of light. She managed to cast a reflect spell just in time, rebounding it with enough force to pulverize the stone fountain in the center of the courtyard. They had arrived right in the middle of the attack, and dozens of light creatures surrounded them. Both warriors drew their Keyblades, standing back to back and striking at any that came near.

“I’ve never seen anything like them!” Ven called to her, blowing them out of their path with an aero spell. “Oh, man… this looks bad.”

Kairi looked around. There were no people that she could see, but the light creatures paced around the two of them, floating eerily or ready to pounce. Some lunged forward with their oddly graceful movements, but she swatted them out of the air. They forced their way through the town’s central plaza, and Kairi noted - but not with much pleasure - that Ven’s Keyblade also did little to harm their foes. At least it wasn’t just her own weakness.

They found themselves in the central plaza, where even more chaos greeted them. A small group of townspeople tried to ward off some of the creatures, but they had found themselves cornered. “Let’s go help those people!” Kairi shouted to Ven, who didn’t hesitate. At the sound of her voice - or, perhaps, something else they had sensed - the creatures turned from their assault on the townspeople and came after the two of them.

Between strikes, which still didn’t seem very effective, Ven looked around. “It’s almost like they’re ignoring the other townspeople. Think it’s ‘cause we’re Keyblade wielders?”

Another light creature, which resembled a bulb with angel wings, lashed out at Kairi but she deflected it with a water spell. She grunted and said nothing - another possibility she considered is that they were after the light in both of their hearts. And between Kairi and Ven, that was a lot of pure light.

One that was larger than the others - vaguely humanoid shaped and covered in armor - lunged at them with enormous gauntleted fists, forcing the two to scramble. Kairi noticed it was the last one left in this area, but just as they were about to launch a counterattack another figure landed on it from above. Though the figure pierced the creature’s armor with a long spear, it tried to throw him off its back, but another figure wielding an enormous axe appeared and swung at the monster’s torso, making it dissipate into twinkling lights. The man wielding the spear hefted it over his shoulder and turned to them.

“Ah, it’s you two,” said Dilan, brushing off his uniform. “I was wondering when one of you’d show up.”

“Dilan, Aeleus,” Kairi said, for the axe-wielder was indeed his companion. “Thanks for the help.” She saw Aeleus nod to them and return to tending to the townspeople they had saved.

“What’s going on? Is everyone okay?” Ven asked.

“These things attacked out of nowhere early this morning,” Dilan replied. “But we managed to hole ourselves up in the castle with as much of the city as we could.”

“For the time being,” Aeleus grunted. The people huddled behind him, scared. “We are out here trying to find the stragglers who couldn’t evacuate.”

Kairi held a hand to her chest. “We got a call from Axel and came as soon as we could.”

“We’ll help you get these people back to the castle,” Ven offered. Ven and Kairi jumped when they heard an explosion rock the town somewhere in the distance.

“That’d be Tron’s defense systems,” Aeleus noted without a hint of alarm.

Dilan shook his head in response to Ven’s offer. “No need. We’ll handle this, you two go on ahead. I trust you remember the way.”

Kairi nodded. “We do. Thank you.” Dilan leapt to the top of a nearby building in a single bound. “Good luck,” she said to Aeleus, who nodded back and readied his weapon to protect the townspeople. Kairi exchanged a glance with Ven and she decided to lead the way - this was her home world, after all.

Kairi and Ven rushed ahead, fighting their way through the town as more and more monsters appeared. As they progressed, they spotted turrets and laser grids - presumably the defense systems Aeleus mentioned - which attacked the otherworldly creatures with impunity. They ascended through the myriad streets, gardens, and courtyards to Hollow Bastion, and at one point Kairi found herself looking out over the Villain’s Vale in the distance. It made her recall Maleficent, and her original plan to gather all the Princesses of Heart, herself included, in order to open the way to Kingdom Hearts.

How far they’d come since then. More than anything, Kairi wanted to be the one who did the saving for once.

“Almost there!” Ven exclaimed as they made their way to the bailey. He hurled his Keyblade through a light creature, but when another one appeared he was unprepared to defend himself. Before Kairi could intervene, a black blur appeared and destroyed it with a flurry of punches and kicks. “Whoa - hi! Thanks for the help!”

“Hey there,” said the woman in black. “You two better stay on your guard! This area still isn’t safe!”

“We’re trying to get into Hollow Bastion,” Kairi explained. While there were no other enemies present for the time being, she decided to heed the stranger’s advice. She saw two more people in black walk up to them from behind her, both wielding huge swords. Kairi recognized the one with a mane of wild brown hair. “Oh! You’re Squall!”

The older man nodded, giving her the barest of grins. “Yeah. Long time no see, Kairi.”

The woman turned to Kairi, stretching her legs. “You’re Kairi? I’ve heard a lot about you from the others. My name is Tifa. It’s nice to finally meet you,” she said, holding out her hand with a warm smile.

Despite the circumstances, Kairi felt herself smiling back, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you too, Tifa.” She looked at the other man standing next to Squall. “So you must be Cloud.”

Ven waved. “And I’m Ventus, but you can call me Ven.”

“No time for friendly introductions,” said Cloud. “You two should get inside. We think these things are drawn to Keyblade wielders, but inside the castle’s protected. Your other friends are in there, too.”

“What about you three?” Ven asked, his brow furrowed in concern.

“This is our home,” said Tifa. “We’re fighting to keep it safe. We won’t let it fall a second time, to whatever these things are.”

“And besides, we’re four!” a voice shouted from above. Kairi beamed when she spotted another familiar face wielding an enormous shuriken. “These mysterious monsters better watch out for the great ninja Yuffie!”

“Um, we’re actually seven,” corrected a tiny creature in orange that appeared next to Yuffie, sticking out its tongue. Two more appeared next to her, and Kairi realized with a start that it was a trio of fairies.

“Go on,” said Squall, stepping forward to regard the path Kairi and Ven came from. “We’ll be fine.” He hefted his gunblade, prepared to face any other enemies that came their way.

Kairi nodded and continued to the castle gates. “Thanks.”

The castle gates of Hollow Bastion opened when they approached, as if expecting them, and Kairi and Ven entered together. The massive doors shut tight behind them, but Kairi was distracted by the sight in front of her. They had found themselves in the entrance hall, with two sets of stairs on either side leading up to the upper levels, but Kairi found herself flashing back to the moment when Sora sacrificed his heart to save hers, all those years ago. Her light managed to save him, then. But was that even her doing, or was it perhaps his strong heart all along?

She saw Aerith in the center of the hall, knelt on the ground with her eyes closed and hands joined as if in prayer. Her pink dress was torn in places, and her braid unkempt, showing signs of recent battle, but the healer herself seemed none the worse for wear. She spotted Cid shortly after off to the side, typing furiously away at a console hooked up to monitors lining the walls. Kairi was about to ask what they were doing, but Cid beat her to it before she could open her mouth.

“You’ll keep quiet if you know what’s good for ya!” he grumbled without even turning his back to look at them. “Aerith and I had to let all the castle’s defenses down to let you two in! And with hearts as full of light as yours we really had to disable everythin’ we had, so don’t distract us while we put it all back up!”

“Uh… Okayyy,” said Ven. “Well, thanks for letting us in!”

A young man in a labcoat with spiky hair strode down one of the staircases. “It really is an incredibly advanced defense system,” he said, forgoing a greeting - or perhaps just forgetting to greet them. “Cid, Tron, and Aerith managed to make a barrier that covers the whole castle, keeping out our wayward enemies of light, even while we house a multitude of Keyblade wielders in our midst. Fascinating, honestly.”

“Ienzo!” Kairi exclaimed. “So Axel, Roxas, and Xion are all here?”

“Indeed,” said another man in a labcoat, appearing at the top of the stairs behind Ienzo. This one, if Kairi remembered correctly, was Even. “They are currently up in the library… Ah, I misspoke.”

Behind him, she heard shouts as her three friends rushed down the hallway into the entrance hall. Roxas and Xion leapt over the banister instead of going down the stairs, while Axel sighed behind them and lazily walked down.

“Hey, I told y’all to can it!” Cid protested, but everyone ignored him.

“Glad you guys are safe!” said Xion. She grasped both of Kairi’s hands, grinning, and Kairi was slightly taken aback by the display of energy. It seemed that, despite the circumstances, she was enjoying the time she got to spend with her closest friends, and that made Kairi happy for her - even if she still wasn’t used to looking at a black-haired “twin” in equally black clothing.

“Likewise!’ said Ven, bumping his elbow against Roxas’. Then again, Kairi supposed, it must have been weirder for Ven and Roxas, looking even more alike.

“We were worried about all of you,” said Kairi. “We came as soon as we could… but I suppose you’re all okay here?” So she wasn’t needed after all, was she?

Axel strode up next to her and put a hand on top of her head, ruffling her hair. “I know what you’re thinking. And don’t sweat it, okay? It’s better now that we’re all together.”

Of all of them, only Roxas seemed to match Kairi’s subdued demeanor. “But there’s still so much we don’t know. Even with what Ansem told us, there’s so much that’s missing.”

Kairi tilted her head. “What did Ansem tell you?”

“C’mon, Roxas, no need to be sour grapes,” said Axel.

“Perhaps you should hear it from Ansem the Wise himself,” said Ienzo, interrupting with a gentle smile. “Come, he is upstairs in the library. Besides, we should leave so we don’t disturb Aerith and before Cid blows a gasket. Even, if you could come with us… I’m not sure if there’s much more we can do to help in the defenses here.”

They left the entrance hall as Cid sputtered rude words after them, leaving him and Aerith to defend the castle alone with their technology and magic.

The walk up to the library was also one wrought with unpleasant memories for Kairi, all of which involved Sora and their first visit here. She pushed them aside, focusing on the ascent to the library, while Ventus caught up with Axel, Roxas, Xion, and Ienzo. Kairi herself kept quiet until she realized Even was the only other person doing the same, so she hurriedly joined the conversation. As they walked, she spotted evacuees from the town in just about every room they passed.

Ienzo led the way into the library, opening up a set of massive double doors to reveal rows and rows of bookshelves that stretched all the way to the ceiling. Of all the chambers in Hollow Bastion, Kairi liked the library best - it always felt safer to her, warmer and more welcoming than the other parts of the castle. Ansem the Wise sat at a desk poring over pages of handwritten notes, Isa standing at his side like a sentinel and looking over his shoulder in an attempt to decipher the reports. This was the first time she had ever seen Ansem outside of a black or red coat; now, he instead wore a white labcoat like his apprentices.

“Ah, Kairi, Ventus, you’ve arrived,” said Ansem, standing from his work and turning to face them. “I am heartened to see you two safe and unharmed.”

“Thank you,” said Kairi. “But I am still worried about Riku…”

“He assures us he is quite well,” said Ansem. “He’s out in other worlds, fighting to keep them safe from this new threat.”

“You’ve heard from him?” Kairi asked. Why hadn’t Riku made any effort to reach out to her? Why just them? Why did everyone seem so determined to leave her locked out of the loop? Was she that disconnected from everything in the Destiny Islands, or was it her own fault for not reaching out these past few months?

“Yeah, gummiphone,” said Axel, wiggling his device for her. “Riku’s fine, don’t worry.”

“Master Aqua didn’t come with you?” Ansem asked. “A pity… we could have used her strength and counsel.”

“She went to go visit Master Yen Sid,” said Ven. “And Terra stayed behind to look after all the other Keyblade wielders at home.”

Ansem nodded. “A wise choice.”

Kairi stepped forward. “So tell us, please. What’s going on? What are these creatures?”

Ansem crossed his arms. “I believe that these creatures, against all logic and reasoning, must be Heartless. Despite everything we thought we knew about Heartless, it is the only explanation.”

Kairi let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She’d feared as much, but was afraid to give the thoughts form. “Heartless… born from the light in people’s hearts?”

“It sounds unbelievable, we know,” said Ienzo. “But based on data we’ve gathered here and from what Riku has told us is happening in other worlds, ‘light Heartless’ is the conclusion we’ve come to.”

Even folded his hands behind his back. “We think they were born and started to appear in this realm, the Realm of Light, after the Second Keyblade War. Keyblade Wars happen when light and darkness are perfectly balanced and clash together, but in the aftermath of the war the balance of power shifted to light. Just as the world fell to darkness after the First Keyblade War.”

Ven blinked, stunned. “So does that mean the worlds are gonna fall to… light?”

Kairi clenched a fist. After all that fighting, they still couldn’t find peace? “So what do we do?”

“We’re not so sure,” Xion admitted, wringing her hands. “We’ve been locking ourselves up in Hollow Bastion all day because these light Heartless pursue us relentlessly. You know how regular Heartless seem to like the hearts of Keyblade wielders the most?”

Roxas crossed his arms. “These light Heartless are drawn to hearts of light and the hearts of Keyblade wielders. So we’re twice at risk.”

“A double whammy,” said Axel.

“But dark Heartless are drawn to Keyblades because they know those are capable of destroying them,” Kairi noted. “So that means our Keyblades should be able to destroy these, too.”

“That is the idea,” said Isa, speaking for the first time since their arrival. “And it seems like they do, with far more difficulty than you had with creatures of darkness. But it is only a temporary solution.”

“They keep coming,” said Roxas, as an answer to Kairi’s questioning look. “We’re in the Realm of Light, after all. It’s not like the dark Heartless, which always invade from the Realm of Darkness. These things are born here. Which means there’s a lot more light Heartless than there ever were dark Heartless.”

“How can someone’s heart even fall to light?” Kairi asked. “Just saying that sounds strange.” It sounded wrong. Light was supposed to be warm, welcoming, and full of life. Not cold and frightening like those monsters outside. Kairi was one of seven people in all the worlds - eight, if Ven was included - who had hearts of pure light. How could it ever come to symbolize something evil?

“A person’s heart falls to darkness when they fall prey to their negative emotions and let it consume them,” Ienzo explained. “So, it stands to reason that someone can fall prey to their positive emotions as well. For example, selfishness is a negative emotion. But the opposite, selflessness, is a wonderful positive emotion that stems from things like compassion, empathy, and love. But if a person is too selfless, they can lose their sense of self, and perhaps lose their hearts to overwhelming light.”

“Another example is happiness,” said Even. “Too much unbridled happiness leads to euphoria, which may also trigger being lost to the light.”

“And too much diligence can be a bad thing,” Axel contributed, holding up a finger. “Ever hear the saying about losing yourself in your work? That’s why I try to avoid doing too much work whenever I can.”

Isa jabbed him in the forehead with his finger. “You are just lazy. Nice excuse, though.”

As Kairi was left to ponder those words, a dark corridor opened behind one of the bookshelves, causing her to reach for her Keyblade in alarm. However, Naminé was the person who stepped out of it, putting up both of her hands in quiet surprise after seeing all eyes on her. “Oops… I didn’t mean to reappear where everyone could see me.”

“And where might you have been all this time?” Ansem asked her, his voice stern. "And using the Dark Corridors? You know the dangers!"

Naminé scratched her cheek sheepishly. “I was outside in the city, trying to see if I could find any other people to bring back here to safety…”

“Outside? But you know how dangerous it is!” Ansem exclaimed. “Please, Naminé, stay here where we can protect you.”

“You’re right,” she said. “I’m sorry.” She bowed deeply, and despite seeming sincere, Kairi had the distinct feeling that Naminé was hiding something. Naminé was her Nobody, after all.

Before Kairi could think any further on the matter, another dark corridor opened, this time on the bookshelves above them, as if heralded by Naminé’s entrance. This time, two unfamiliar figures emerged from it, both in heavy robes and masks that covered them from head to toe. The larger figure, a massive man in light brown robes and a bear mask, stepped out first. “Bearers of the Keyblades,” he said, his voice booming. “Cease your actions at once.”

Everyone stood on guard once the strangers arrived. Naminé hurriedly stood behind Ansem, who stepped forward. “Who are you, and what are you doing in my library?”

The man declined to answer both of his questions. “Surrender your Keyblades. The light you wield is a danger to all the realms.” Kairi glanced at the other figure behind him, much smaller and slimmer, with a woman’s form and light blue robes. Her face was concealed by a serpent’s mask.

“Hmm… I don’t think so,” said Axel, summoning his Keyblade and propping it up on his shoulder. Xion, Ven, and Kairi followed suit. “You should answer Ansem’s questions. He doesn’t like not knowing things, you see. And I don’t either, for that matter.”

Roxas pointed Oathkeeper at the Bear, Oblivion hanging in his other hand at his side. “We’re not letting our world fall to light. Something’s wrong here, and we’re going to figure it out. But we’re not going to ask again - who are you?”

Before anyone could say anything else, the figure in blue appeared behind Roxas in the blink of an eye, but Kairi could also still see her atop the bookshelf next to the Bear. She saw a flash of metal as the Serpent lashed out at Roxas’ back, but Axel deflected her weapon just in time. The Serpent vanished from the Bear’s side, and Kairi realized the one atop the bookshelf was an illusion.

From there, the battle had begun.

The Bear held out his hand, summoning his weapon, which turned out to be a Keyblade larger than any Kairi had ever seen before. He leapt from the bookshelf, sending it toppling behind him, and clashed against Roxas’ crossed blades.

The crash of the shelving and books did little to mask the sound of Ansem’s astonished shout. “A Keyblade?!” The old scientist hurried to safety with Naminé, ushered by Isa as he held his enormous greatsword at the ready.

Xion attacked the Serpent alongside Axel, but the unfamiliar woman held a Keyblade of her own and smoothly deflected both of their blows. More copies of the Serpent appeared all around the library, firing spells from above. In response to that, Kairi let go of her Keyblade and let it levitate in front of her for a moment before it split apart and formed a longbow, which she took and deftly aimed at as many copies of the Serpent that she could see. She pulled back and released, unleashing bolts of energy at the copies that made them all dissipate upon contact.

The Serpent appeared right in front of Kairi, stabbing forward with her Keyblade like a snakebite. Kairi barely managed to cast a barrier spell just in time, using the flow of magic to carry herself back to get some distance between herself and her opponent to fire more arrows at her. Axel hurled his flaming chakrams at her, which she deflected, and the moment they returned to his hand they transformed back into his Keyblade and he went on the offensive. The Serpent managed to counter all his blows, kicking him away without showing any signs of exhaustion. Axel toppled into a bookshelf, the force of his landing knocking it over.

“You’re both good,” she said. “But not enough to face me. You’ve scarcely fought in any true battles.”

“What about me, then?” Xion asked, launching an attack. She opened with a beam of light, then closed in on the Serpent at melee range. The two danced around each other, skillfully dodging and parrying each other’s blows, neither seeming to gain the upper hand. Once again, Kairi was reminded of how much more experienced Xion and the others were, compared to her and Axel. Unable to take a shot at the Serpent without the risk of hitting Xion, she stepped back to see how Roxas and Ven fared against the Bear.

The Bear’s strikes came hard and fast, clashing against Roxas’ Keyblades with enough force to shake the whole room. Roxas did all he could just to avoid getting hit, parrying and casting magic out of any attempt to gain an advantage. Even had summoned his shield, but he was hard pressed as well. He turned the floor into ice to slip and slide around the Bear’s attacks, summoning ice chunks and spears in an attempt to slow his movement, but he shrugged off the frozen assault as if Even commanded paper instead. The Bear hefted his enormous Keyblade and slammed it against the icy floor, striking with enough force to send a shockwave that sent Even flying, where he hit a marble statue and lay prone. Kairi rushed over to assist him, but the Serpent blocked her path. Kairi was barely able to block her blows, but stepped back and cast an aero spell in an attempt to give herself some space. She looked for her friends - Xion had fallen, just like Axel.

The Serpent countered by forming copies of herself again, but before Kairi could react, the floor became the ceiling and she flipped upside-down. The Serpent lashed at her and Kairi moved to block, but the attack came at her from behind instead. She shouted out in pain, trying to retaliate, but when she tried to move her right arm, her left arm moved instead. “What is happening?” she cried out.

“It’s an illusion. This woman is a master at it… but so am I,” said Ienzo, who had appeared next to her. His lexicon held in hand, he wove a spell, and Kairi found herself standing on solid ground again. Copies of Ienzo appeared in exactly the same way the Serpent did, and his copies clashed with hers. Magic blasts erupted from both the Serpent and Ienzo, colliding against each other and destroying both of their copies. “These are fearsome opponents,” he said to Kairi through grit teeth. “I don’t know if we can win!”

“You won’t win,” said the Serpent. Kairi could have been imagining things, but it sounded as if she hissed at them. “You can’t. Too much is at stake - we will not be wiped out by your searing light. We will continue to fight, and fight, and fight, and never give up!”

Kairi grasped her Keyblade with both hands. “We don’t want the light to wipe out everything, either! We could work together to stop this!”

The Serpent’s mask was right in front of her face. “How can we work together, when our natures forbid it? They say the stronger the light, the greater the shadow, but what of a bright light in an empty room? There is nothing to cast any shadows.”

“What do you mean?” Kairi asked, slicing at the spectral mask. As she did so, Ienzo screamed out in pain, struck by something unseen, and collapsed to the floor. “Ienzo!” The Serpent materialized in front of her again, hitting her in the gut with the hilt of her Keyblade, causing Kairi to fall to her knees. She looked across the room to the other battle, her vision swimming.

Ven had scampered around the Bear’s numerous blows, too fast for him to hit. Ven couldn’t seem to get any hits in of his own, however, unable to pierce the Bear’s defenses. The giant of a man snatched Ven right out of the air when he leapt overhead, then swung him around by his ankle and slammed him against the floor, where he didn’t move.

She saw Roxas get knocked away by the Bear, colliding with the wall. Naminé shouted his name, supporting him with healing spells, while Isa locked his enormous blade against the Bear’s. “You have something we want, Ansem!” the Bear bellowed. “And we will take it!” He overpowered Isa, leaving an opening in his defenses and punching him right in the chest, launching him backwards.

“Stop hurting these children,” Ansem ordered, though even Kairi heard the fear in his voice. “I’ll give it to you - just name it!”

Roxas stood, empowered by Naminé’s spells, and renewed his attack, striking at the Bear so quickly from all directions that Kairi could barely see him. The man roared out in pain, but swung his Keyblade in a wide arc that somehow managed to hit Roxas, finally making him collapse to the ground. The Bear and the Serpent closed in on Ansem, grabbing him by both arms.

“No,” Kairi said weakly. She summoned as much strength as she could, casting a quick curative spell on herself. “No!” She pushed herself to her feet and ran at the Bear’s exposed back, swinging her Keyblade with all the strength she had left. Just before impact, a shimmering barrier appeared over the Bear’s form, and her Keyblade reverberated off of it. A moment later, she realized the Serpent managed to cast a protective spell over him. Her Keyblade bouncing away left her open to the Bear’s retaliation, and he struck her with his own Keyblade, making her cry out in pain and arc high into the air, landing painfully on the floor.

“Kairi!” Naminé cried out, her hands covering her mouth.

Unable to move, she could only watch as Ansem surrendered and he disappeared into the darkness with both Bear and Serpent. Darkness enveloped her vision, too, and she knew no more.

* * *

 

Kairi came to some time later, opening her eyes to meet Naminé’s vivid blue ones. She sat up, groaning, and looked over the ruined library. Countless bookshelves and statues had toppled over in their battle and a crater marred the floor where the Bear had slammed his Keyblade down. Despite that, she saw her friends and companions stirring if not already up and about, and thankfully they all seemed to be alright, thanks to Naminé’s and Aerith’s healing. Breathing a sigh of relief, she accepted Naminé’s hand to pull herself up into a standing position.

Her head swam with dizziness, but she managed to collect herself. “They’re gone, aren’t they?”

“I’m afraid so,” said Aerith, tending to Even. “I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier. I sensed an intrusion in the castle, but I didn’t make it up here in time.”

“They took Ansem,” said Ienzo, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. “Just the two of them against all of us…”

“They were way too powerful,” said Axel. “Nothing could have prepared us for that.”

“There’s no trace of where they went,” Even said, scowling. “How irritating…”

Xion folded her arms. “We can’t just sit here waiting around. We have to go out there. We have to do something about all this.”

“What do you suggest?” Axel asked her, a hand on his hip. “We know nothing about who those guys are, or what they wanted with Ansem.”

“I’m going to go find Riku,” she replied, her gaze set with certainty. “He needs some help out there on his own.”

“I want to go to Twilight Town,” Roxas said suddenly, and everyone turned to him. “I want to make sure they’re not being attacked as well. And I’m worried about Hayner, Pence, and Olette.”

Axel shrugged. “Then I’ll go with you.”

“Me, too!” said Ven. “I’ve always wanted to go to Twilight Town.”

Axel clapped his hands together. “Alright, it’s a plan, then. Everyone else, stay here and keep an eye out on things! Protect the town!” He glanced at Kairi. “And stay safe.”

Kairi bit her lip. Were they really going to leave her behind again? Did they really see her as that useless in a fight?

“Hey, who put you in charge?” Xion asked Axel, sticking out her tongue at him. “If you ask me, well… it should be me!”

“What?” Axel asked, bewildered. “If anything, it should be Roxas! Right, Roxas?”

Roxas put a hand on Kairi’s shoulder. “Listen, we need someone to stay here and keep the town safe. And I trust you to keep Naminé safe, too.”

Kairi looked down at the ground, unsure of what to say. She removed his arm from her shoulder. “Fine. You guys go out there and do your thing. Maybe we’ll try to figure out who those masked people were, or where they took Ansem.”

He nodded. “Thank you, Kairi.” For a moment, he looked so much like Sora that she almost couldn’t be upset anymore. But she blinked a few times, and the effect was gone.

* * *

 

After the others had gone their respective ways, Kairi stomped back through Hollow Bastion to the entrance hall, intent on leaving the castle. She was not going to be left behind again. Even if she had to do it on her own, she was going to do something. She had to. And maybe that something was following after the Bear and the Serpent in order to save Ansem.

As she entered the entrance hall, which was empty except for Cid still working at his monitor, she was stopped by Isa who appeared from a hallway she’d never noticed before. “Wait. Where are you going?” he asked.

“I’m going out there. And you can’t stop me,” she said, not even looking his way.

“I don’t want to stop you,” he said. “If you’re going to look for Ansem, I want to help you.”

“Help me?” she asked, turning to him. “Why?”

He crossed his arms. “I’m one of his apprentices, for one thing. And the other reason is that, before they disappeared into that dark corridor, they asked him about an experiment he worked on years ago. About a girl.”

“I didn’t hear that,” Kairi said.

He sighed. “That’s because you were unconscious.” He walked ahead of her, toward the stairs that descended into the entrance hall. “They wanted to find that girl, which is why they took him with them. And I first became Ansem’s apprentice all those years ago because I wanted to find and help that girl, too.”

“Who is she?” Kairi asked.

“I don’t know,” Isa admitted. “I never found out. Even after everything, I never worked up the courage to ask Ansem about it. I didn’t even think he’d remember her, after all the experiments he did. But now I know she must be important, if those guys wanted her.”

Kairi put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, thinking. She didn’t know Isa very well, but she supposed any help tracking down the Bear and the Serpent would be welcome. Then there was the idea of fighting them, but perhaps they’d be able to rescue Ansem without having to. “Okay, fine. Let’s go, then.” Isa nodded, and followed after her. “If it’s two of us now, we’ll need to borrow a gummi ship. I know you can go through dark corridors, but I’d rather avoid those if it can be helped.”

“Think Cid will let us?” Isa asked with faint amusement as he watched the gummi pilot work.

“Um, Mr. Cid?” Kairi asked. “I’m sorry to be annoying, but…”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, waving a hand dismissively at them. “I heard everything. Go on, take the gummi ship down in the hangar, I won’t be needin’ it any time soon. And I’ve got two, anyway.”

Kairi and Isa looked at each other, smiled, and nodded.

“Wait!” another voice called out to them, this time from the hallway Kairi just came from. She turned to the source of the voice to see Naminé. “Let me come, too.”

“Naminé? Why would you want to come?” Isa asked her.

She frowned at him. “I don’t want to be the only one left behind here. It’s lonely, you know?” Kairi nodded, understanding. “I’ve been learning plenty of magic from Aerith, so I’ll be useful. And no offense to Ienzo and Even, but they’re not really the most fun, especially when they have work to do.”

“It’ll be dangerous,” Isa said. “Especially if we run into those two again. Not to mention the light Heartless.”

“Well,” said Naminé, “I sort of have to show you something. Earlier today, after the light Heartless first attacked, I kind of summoned…” She held out a hand, where an alabaster white Keyblade appeared, curved and elegant with a blue orb near the hilt and a matching gem as a keychain. “...this. I, um, didn’t show the others, since they weren’t letting Roxas and the others leave…”

Both Kairi and Isa drew back, surprised. “What? How?” Isa asked.

Kairi smiled. “Well… I think I know why,” she said. If Roxas and Xion could wield them because Sora could, why couldn’t Naminé, as Kairi could?

Naminé shared her smile. “Perhaps you two could teach me how to use it. I still have access to some of Sora’s memories, but I have to admit it isn’t enough…” She dismissed her new Keyblade. “I did go outside the castle and practice what I could. Though these Keyblades don’t seem to be as useful against light Heartless. And with the magic I’ve been learning, I hope that’s enough for me to help?”

Kairi nodded. She knew exactly how Naminé felt, after all. “Thank you, Naminé. I’m glad to have you along with us.”

“So let’s depart,” said Naminé. “To find Ansem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the party of Kairi, Isa, and Namine has formed! Kairi used a bow and arrows as a formchange 'cause I saw fanart of it once and loved the idea.  
> Okay, I still have a few other chapters written but I'm gonna hold off on posting them for a week or so. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!


	4. Interlude 1: Mysterious Tower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here's our first Interlude chapter! Last time, Kairi and Ven arrived at Radiant Garden to find the city under attack, with confirmation from Ansem that they were likely beings they called light Heartless. After reuniting with Roxas, Xion, Axel, Isa, Namine, and Ansem's other apprentices, they all discuss the recent events until they are interrupted by masked strangers with Keyblades. After a fight where everyone gets beaten down, the strangers kidnap Ansem and disappear with him into a Dark Corridor, leaving the Keyblade wielders to decide their own paths. Kairi decides to do what she can to track down the Bear and the Serpent, who took Ansem, bringing Isa along with her. Namine, too, decides to come along, revealing that she can also wield a Keyblade of her own now.
> 
> Meanwhile, Aqua went to go visit Master Yen Sid after learning of the light Heartless from Kairi...

Interlude 1. Mysterious Tower

 

Master Yen Sid’s tower was the same as ever - quiet, reclusive, mysterious, and a tower - just the way Aqua knew the old wizard liked it. She watched him in silence as he sat behind his desk, reading through old tomes for any historical precedent for these new light Heartless. Ven had called her on his gummiphone after he left Radiant Garden and updated her on the situation, and when she relayed that information to Yen Sid he was just as confused as she was.

“But I still don’t get it,” Aqua said after several more minutes of impatient silence. “How can these creatures be born from the light in someone’s heart? Why do they act just like regular Heartless, and why haven’t we ever seen them before?”

“From what little we know, we can only guess,” said Yen Sid. “And based on what evidence we have, we can make educated guesses. But I suppose it is impossible to know for sure right now.”

She crossed her arms, sullen. “So I _guess_ that means we don’t really know anything,” she said quietly.

“We do know that the power of light can be used by those with ill intentions, and abused, twisted, corrupted to violent ends,” Yen Sid continued, apparently not hearing her. “Just as darkness can be used for good.”

“Like with Terra,” she said. He still used the powers of darkness with no ill effects, and once upon a time that would have made Aqua feel uncomfortable. But no more, not since her nightmarish ten years within the Realm of Darkness. Now, it was almost as familiar to her as light. “And Riku.”

He nodded. “Precisely.”

“So how could the light have been… corrupted?” she asked. The light was a force of good that she felt with her almost her whole life, a source of comfort and faith she held deep within her heart through all of her time lost and afraid. The idea that it could be corrupted almost made her feel sick.

He shook his head, eyes passing over his books again as if the answer might jump out of them. “I do not know. But I do believe if we find the source of this, we will be able to set things right again. It is hard to imagine that our triumph during the Second Keyblade War could have brought this about.”

“But we couldn’t have just left Xehanort to his machinations,” Aqua protested. “We couldn’t. We had to beat him.”

“I do not disagree with you,” he said. “Like you, I am disconcerted by the idea that our actions did this, as those masked attackers claimed. Still, we do not know for sure if they speak the truth.” They were both silent again after that, and Aqua weighed his words and the implications of them. Finally, Yen Sid spoke up again. “Putting the cause aside for the moment, we should focus our efforts on how to stop them.”

“Kairi and the others said their Keyblades do little to harm the light Heartless,” said Aqua, tapping her chin. “Is that because our Keyblades are weapons from the Realm of Light?”

“Indeed, I came to the same conclusion,” he said, stroking his beard. “While it does sound possible to defeat them with your Keyblades, a Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness might have an easier time of it.”

Aqua crossed her arms. “And the only known wielder of a Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness is…”

“...The King,” they both said together.

“But do you know where Mickey went?” Aqua asked. “Did he tell you anything?”

“He did not,” he said, his voice grave. “And from what I understand, you’ve been unable to reach him with your… gummiphones?” He fumbled over the word, and despite the circumstances Aqua had to bite back a laugh.

“Right,” she said. “I don’t know why. Maybe he’s too far away. Or maybe those three are in trouble.” The thought was a scary one - she didn’t know what in all the realms could give the trio of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy that much trouble. “I don’t know where they could have gone to search for…”

She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Saying _his_ name was still too painful to say sometimes. Aqua may have not gotten the chance to know him for long, but his sacrifice was still keenly felt.

Yen Sid cleared his throat. “You must beware on your journey,” he said. “There is a reason that beings of darkness fear the light. We have been lucky to have it on our side thus far, but as an enemy its brilliance can be blinding.”

“I’ll be careful,” she said, spinning on her heel. “Thank you, Master.”

She left, pondering everything about their conversation on her way down the tower. She stepped outside and looked at the starry sky overhead, letting out a sigh. “The corrupted light…” she said to herself. “How can that be? I still don’t understand…”

“Hmm. It is quite the riddle, isn’t it?” The unfamiliar man’s voice made her whirl around, Keyblade drawn, and she nearly attacked the stranger on the spot when she saw that he wore a hooded black coat, his face shadowed. “Whoa, there! I’m not here to fight, okay?”

“Who are you?” she asked, keeping her guard up. Magic crackled at her fingertips.

“Someone who could help you,” he said, his hands held out in a placating gesture. As she got a closer look at him, she realized his black coat was not quite like those worn by Organization XIII. That did little to quell her wariness.

Her Keyblade sliced the air. “Talk.”

“Jeez, so to the point,” he said. His pose and mannerisms suggested that he was completely at ease, his voice light and full of mirth. “Now, then. You were wondering about how light could be corrupted? Well, have you ever wondered how darkness got corrupted? It wasn’t always so icky and evil, you know. Long, long ago, it was held to the same high standard as the light. Considered sacred, even.”

“Okay, that doesn’t answer my question,” she said, irritated.

“Hang on, hang on, I’m getting there!” he said, waving his arms. “But the darkness was still, y’know, _dark_ and mysterious and all that, and that sort of thing always made people afraid. So they wanted the light more, and people got greedy as they fought over it, and then that led to the First Keyblade War. And the rest, as you know, is history. Almost literally, since that’s when recorded history started. Or, well, _re-_ started might be the proper term.”

“So people fighting over the light corrupted the darkness?” she asked. Her Keyblade lowered about an inch. "The darkness in their hearts grew stronger as a result of their fighting. But the darkness wasn't that bad until then?"

The little bit she could see of the man’s mouth seemed to curve into a knowing smile as he waved his hand for her to continue. “Go on, you’re following…”

“So people fighting over darkness now is corrupting the light?” She furrowed her brow. “But who could be fighting over darkness? And why?”

“Okay, okay, you jumped a little ahead there,” he said. “But you were on the right track. It doesn’t necessarily mean people are fighting over control of darkness, though if you think about it with the Organization XIII - by the way, that was a cool name they picked, right? - kinda did just that, didn’t they?”

He spoke way too fast for Aqua, and she struggled to follow his tangents. “So if I take a step back… somewhere, somehow, some people corrupted the light,” she said. “Okay, but how do you know all this? Who are you?”

He wagged a finger at her. “Nah-ah, I’m not gonna say quite yet. That’d be a spoiler. But if hearts with lots of darkness can corrupt darkness, following that logic…”

“Hearts with lots of light can corrupt the light,” she said, frowning. “Are you saying it _is_ us Keyblade wielders who are corrupting the light?”

He shook his head. “No, no, no. Think bigger. Think even more light.”

She scoffed, beginning to get annoyed again, but weighed his words. “The Princesses of Heart?”

“Bingo, we have a winner!” he said, pointing at her. “But those are nice girls, so they’re probably not doing it intentionally. Even so, you could start with them.”

“But the Princesses of Heart don’t have their power anymore,” she said. “They entrusted it to us, the Guardians of Light, so we could face off against Xehanort’s Seekers of Darkness.”

He rubbed his forehead, presumably with exaggerated annoyance, but with his sleeve covering his face she still couldn’t discern his identity. “Do I have to hold your hand through this? Okay, when they gave up their power to you guys it still lived on, as it always does, through another set of seven maidens of pure heart. Well, not so pure now, I guess, since it was corrupted by how strong the light has become now.”

“Another set of seven maidens?” Aqua asked, rubbing her chin in thought. Something Riku told her months ago, shortly after the Second Keyblade War, rose to the forefront of her mind. “Riku and Mickey mentioned that the true Organization was looking for… the New Seven Hearts, they called them. As a failsafe in case the Guardians of Light didn’t show up to the final battle.”

“Bingo again!” the hooded man exclaimed. “Man, I was getting worried for a second there.” He turned around and began to walk away. “Alrighty then, I’ll see you around, maybe. Who knows?”

She held out a hand, intent on stopping him, but a dark corridor opened up and swallowed him. “Wait!” While that answered some of her questions, it raised even more, and she wasn’t even sure if she could trust the man. But he seemed to know so much…

She fished her gummiphone out of her pocket and opened up the group message that she and her friends all shared.

 

_Aqua_

_ >Hey everyone. I have a bit of a lead. We can start finding the source of the corrupted light with the New Seven Hearts. Anyone know who those might be? _

 

_Xion_

_ >Um, New Seven Hearts? Where’d you come up with that? _

 

_Ven_

_ >Sounds like you made it up. :P _

 

_Aqua_

_ >Not funny, Ven. I’m serious. _

 

_Kairi_

_ >No, she’s right. The real Organization XIII was looking for them. _

 

_Ven_

_ >Fine, sorry xP _

 

_Xion_

_ >Before anyone asks, no, i don’t remember OrgXIII telling me anything about the New 7 Hearts while they were using me. _

 

_Naminé_

_ >Ansem the Wise has been looking for them for the past six months as well, so we can protect them if needed. He hasn’t made any progress, though. And… Isa would like to add onto what Xion said, in that he doesn’t know their identities either from his time under Master Xehanort’s control. _

 

_Axel_

_ >Yeah, but are they even important? I thought Org13 kinda gave up looking for them pretty early on. _

_ >Isa, when are you gonna get a gummiphone so you don’t have to make someone else talk for you? _

 

_Naminé_

_ >>Image sent _

 

Aqua stifled a laugh at the picture Naminé sent the group, which was just Isa’s face glaring at the camera. The rest of them had too much fun with this sometimes, but now wasn’t the time.

 

_Axel_

_ >Yeesh, fine, fine. _

 

_Ven_

_ >It’s okayyy, Terra has one and he prob doesn’t even know how to open this message!! _

 

_Riku_

_ >they did find two, maybe three. and i happen to be at one of their worlds now _

 

Aqua sighed with relief. If Riku knew at least those two or three identities that the real Organization XIII discovered, that was a good start. But he was taking a long time to answer, to the point where she wondered if he would even continue unless prompted.

 

_Aqua_

_ >Okay, where are you? _

 

_Riku_

_ >the kingdom of Corona. And there’s light Heartless here, too. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It might be a little lame but I'm kiiinda having fun with the idea of them all in a giant group text with each other. I imagine that Xion and Ven are always sending memes and funny images that only Axel really understands. In general, I thought the gummiphones were a neat addition, but the more I thought about it the less it made sense. Do they even have an internet? Wifi? How did Chip and Dale come up with such an effective communication device that can reach across worlds? Do other people have gummiphones? Are they mass produced now? 
> 
> I think we can kinda assume that, like... Xion and Ven can connect to the internet on worlds like San Fransokyo and that's where they get all their memes from.
> 
> Next chapter, we're going to the first Disney world!


	5. The Kingdom of Corona

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a disclaimer. Before writing this, I never read or wrote any KH fanfiction, so I'm only recently getting an idea of what the fandom generally likes to see in fanfic. One thing I've noticed is that Disney worlds don't seem to be very popular. However, I'm trying my best to maintain the feel of a Kingdom Hearts game (though a *little* bit darker and not so silly) so I am going to be including them. Not many, but there will be.  
> Here's a hint: the only Disney worlds they'll be going to are ones with the New Seven Hearts. ;)

 

Riku flipped back to avoid the heavy sword slamming down where he stood moments before, retaliating with a blast of dark magic that took the Paladin down. Its glimmering white armor crumbled and dissipated into twinkling stars. Another light Heartless, which he dubbed a White Mage, began casting a spell high above him.

He jumped atop a rocky outcropping to propel himself higher, swinging his Keyblade toward it. It managed to raise its golden staff and erect a barrier just in time, causing him to bounce off of it and fall back to the ground. He landed on his feet, gritting his teeth. These light Heartless seemed a bit smarter than dark Heartless, and resistant to his Keyblade to boot, and it was just enough to make almost every encounter with them annoying. The White Mage, which looked less human-shaped than the Paladin and more like a mushroom of some sort, raised its floating staff up higher and fired beams of light at Riku in retaliation.

He skirted through the blasts, instead deciding to focus his attacks on a different foe, a Spellblade. Composed of six glowing orbs that moved like water - a head, torso, two arms and two legs - it also wielded a slim blade that it charged with magic, which floated alongside it. He parried its fiery sword thrust, then shot a blast of dark energy from his palm that destroyed it.

The Paladin reformed, and just a moment later Riku realized that the White Mage somehow revived it. He launched his strongest dark fire spell at the White Mage floating overhead, enveloping it in flames and finishing it off. After that, he made quick work of the Paladin once again, slicing through its shield and impaling the breastplate.

Riku dismissed his Keyblade and wiped off his hands, taking a deep breath. “Alright, healer first next time.”

He took a moment to admire the flowery field where he found himself. Scores of the light Heartless had been drawn here, which threatened the city not too far away. He still didn’t know what to make of these new foes, but he was glad Aqua found a lead. Luckily, he had already been visiting the Kingdom of Corona in his search for more new Keyblade wielders when the light Heartless began attacking, so he was able to protect the people from the worst of it.

He knelt down into the vibrant purple flowers, frowning at the ones that had been crushed under his feet during the fighting. He picked one of the crushed ones, holding it up to the bright blue sky as he observed the light passing through its thin petals. The sun poked through the canopy of trees overhead, dappling the field in spots of light. It truly was a beautiful world, and he didn’t want this one or any of the others to “fall to light,” especially not after Sora saved them from the darkness.

Sora…

He pushed the thought of his friend from his mind. He had to concentrate. He couldn’t be weak, not now, not when everyone else needed him. Someone had to step up and fill the immense void Sora left behind, and while Riku knew he couldn’t compare, he at least had to try… for everyone else’s sake, at least.

“It’s okay, you know,” said a voice behind him. He whirled around to face the newcomer, spotting a young woman in a blue dress and short, spiky brown hair. “The flowers will grow back. They always do.”

He let the flower fall to the ground and looked at his hand. “Uh… Yeah. I know, but it’s still a shame.” He didn’t know who the girl was, but she didn’t seem dangerous. Neither did the man who accompanied her, who looked around at the empty field in appreciation.

“Oh, look, this guy dealt with all the monsters,” said the man, scratching at the bit of beard on his chin. “Looks like we can go now! Hey, thanks for doing our job, stranger!”

“Eugene!” the woman reprimanded him. “That’s no way to thank him! Did you see that sword he used? It was just like Sora’s!”

Riku felt his stomach drop at the mention of his name. “Wait, you know Sora?”

The stranger brushed a wisp of hair behind her ear. “Yes, we met him a while ago. He showed up the last time strange monsters did and helped us, so we came out here from the city to fight them off.” She laughed. “I was sort of hoping to see him again. Did he come with you? What about Donald and Goofy?”

Riku looked away, putting a hand on his hip. “No. He didn’t. They didn’t.”

“O-oh, well, okay,” she said, stepping closer to him. “Well, my name’s Rapunzel, and this is Eugene. What’s yours?”

“Hiya,” said Eugene. “Hopefully these monsters aren’t here ‘cause guys like you are also here with those giant key weapon things. Though yours is  _ significantly _ less key-like than Sora’s was.”

“Rapunzel?” Riku shook his head, unable to believe his luck. Well, if this was truly one of the New Seven Hearts in front of him, that made his life easier. For once. “Er, I’m Riku. Nice to meet you guys.”

Rapunzel brushed her hair behind her ear again, giving Riku the idea that she had longer hair once and kept doing it out of habit. “Is there something wrong with my name?”

“Oh, no no no,” he said, waving his arms. Mickey told him about the New Seven Hearts before he disappeared, learning their identities from Donald and Goofy as the latter fought across worlds with the Organization. Rapunzel was one. The other two, if he remembered correctly, were named Anna and Elsa. Kairi, potentially, was the fourth. “It’s… it’s nice.”

Eugene raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, yeah, don’t get any ideas. This is the princess you’re talking to.”

Rapunzel grinned sheepishly. “Well, why don’t you come back with us to town for the time being? It doesn’t seem like there’s any more of those monsters around.”

“Heartless,” Riku said. At their questioning looks, he continued. “They’re called Heartless. And I don’t really have time to go to town.”

“Oh, well, okay then,” Rapunzel said, shrugging. He looked more closely at her, trying to discern what it was about her or her light that could be “corrupted.” Nothing really seemed wrong with her, but maybe he had to see how the light Heartless reacted to her? Maybe they were born from her pure light? “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Eugene narrowed his eyes at Riku. “Seriously, back off.” He held a frying pan, stroking it with one of his fingers and maintaining eye contact with Riku.

Riku hurriedly looked away. “Uh, it’s nothing.” He looked around at the flowers and trees. “Have you two, uh, noticed anything unusual lately? Something aside from the Heartless?”

“Well, these Heartless feel different than the monsters we faced last time with Sora,” said Rapunzel. “Donald called them… Nobodies? Well, there were Heartless, too, but those also felt different.”

“Sounds about right,” said Riku. “These aren’t Nobodies, though.”

“Well, other weird stuff’s been happening,” said Eugene. “Weird flashes of light in the sky or throughout the woods, random quakes… Oh, and some kind of star-like object has been appearing wherever those flashes happen.”

“Flashes of light?” Riku asked. “Can you bring me to where those have been happening?”

“Sure,” said Rapunzel, leading the way. “It’s deeper in the woods.”

Riku followed them as they went deeper into the forest, though on the way they encountered plenty more light Heartless. Riku was glad to have Eugene at his side - the man made great use of his frying pan, and while Rapunzel mostly hung back and supported them with magic, she occasionally grabbed it from him to whack a few Heartless heads of her own.

One thing Riku did notice was that the Heartless seemed to focus all of their attacks on Rapunzel the most whenever she was near, which was nearly enough to overwhelm even Riku. If she was one of the sources of these light Heartless, how come they seemed to want to eliminate her? He wondered if she somehow made them without realizing, and they just lusted after more light. He thought of Maleficent, and how despite her ability to control the darkness and Heartless, she too had been overwhelmed by them once upon a time.

Perhaps these light Heartless were the same, intent only on devouring the light.

The trio fought their way deep into the woods, through a cave system, through more of the forest, and finally a tunnel that opened up into a lush, beautiful valley with a waterfall. Riku’s eyes were drawn most to a lonely tower that stood near the water, stretching high into the sky. As he approached, Rapunzel and Eugene both stopped, causing him to stop, too.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Rapunzel frowned up at the tower. “Home sweet home, I guess.”

For the first time, Eugene’s face softened into something sincere and filled with concern. “Are you okay?”

“You live here?” Riku asked, astonished. “All the way out here?”

“Not anymore,” said Rapunzel, clenching her fists and continuing on. “The flashes of light first appeared around here.”

Eugene knelt in the grass near the foot of the tower and held something out to Riku. “Here. This is one of those things that appeared with it.”

Riku held it in his hand. It was star-shaped, with a faint blue glow, and felt like a piece of gummi material. “This is… a gummi block?” He said it with more astonishment than anything.

“A what block?” Rapunzel asked, head tilted.

Riku brought his knuckles to his lips, deep in thought while he knelt down to see if he could find more. “A piece of the barrier between worlds. As far as I know, last time this happened… But we did all that fighting to stop this… Is the light really getting strong enough to break that down? Already?”

“Hold on, barrier between worlds?” Eugene asked. “What do you mean?”

Riku’s eyes widened and he stood up pin straight. “Uh, forget I said anything.” The last thing that needed to happen now was to break down the world order. Rapunzel and Eugene couldn’t know about other worlds, weren’t supposed to know that he wasn’t from here…

“You’re a really weird guy, you know that?” Eugene asked. “I feel like there’s a lot you’re not telling us here.”

“Uh… sorry,” he said. Riku felt like he never had a whole lot to say anymore, but with these two he started to worry they’d think he was more than a little absent-minded. “So, why this tower?”

“I was held here against my will,” said Rapunzel. “Raised this way my entire life by someone I thought was my mother. But she was just using me, imprisoning me, for a power I have. It was only recently that I left the tower for the first time, back when Eugene found me. Sora and the others, too. And I learned who my real family was.”

“The King and Queen of Corona?” Riku asked. He tried to breeze past the mention of Sora again, so he focused his thoughts on the power she mentioned. Could it be related to her being one of the New Seven Hearts? “I see. So… what’s this power?”

“It used to be that my hair could heal all wounds,” she said. She tugged at the fringes of brown hair on her head. “But that’s mostly gone now. The power itself is part of me, inside me, and always has been. I can still do it, but it’s different now.”

“Should we be telling this guy all this?” Eugene asked her, holding up his hand as if to block Riku from the conversation. Riku rolled his eyes.

“Well, he’s friends with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, right?”

“We don’t know that! They just use the same weapon!” Eugene turned to him. “So where are my trusty assistants, anyway?”

Riku raised an eyebrow. “Assistants? Er, well… Sora’s off exploring somewhere,” he said. “As he always does.” The excuse sounded lame, even to Riku, but he couldn’t talk about it more. Not yet.

“Dodgy again, I see,” said Eugene. “Can we go back to this whole ‘other worlds’ thing? Or should we just add it to the ever-growing list of things you’re not telling us?”

“There really is a lot you don’t know, indeed.” Riku, Rapunzel, and Eugene turned to face the newcomer who spoke suddenly, and Riku cursed himself for not noticing the man sneak up on them. “You might as well tell them. The world barriers may not hold up much longer, anyway.”

“Marluxia,” Riku snarled, drawing his Keyblade. The man with long pink hair simply crossed his arms. He even still wore his black coat that he did among the Organization. “How are you alive?”

“I know you!” Rapunzel said, already ready to attack. “You were working with my mother!”

“Marluxia is dead,” the man said, spreading his arms in what seemed like a welcoming gesture. “My name is… Lauriam.”

“What do you mean? I should have known the Organization was behind this!” Riku growled. “I just don’t understand how.” Could everything they did, all the fighting they suffered through until now, have been for naught? What about Sora’s sacrifice?

“Calm yourself,” said Marluxia - or, rather, Lauriam. “I am not with the Organization any longer. In fact, there is no Organization. After you defeated me - after you saved me - I reformed, and now I’ve come to save you.”

Riku hesitated. “Save me?” He put the star-shaped gummi shard in his pocket, but didn’t take his eyes off of Lauriam.

“From yourselves. The light you bear is a danger to all the worlds.”

“Can someone please explain what’s going on?” Eugene asked. “What worlds? What Organization?”

“You’re not the first person to say that,” said Riku, glaring at Lauriam. “Are you working with those masked people?”

“Perhaps,” Lauriam replied. He turned to Rapunzel. “You are one of the New Seven Hearts. You’re the cause of this, and you need to come with me.”

“What’re you gonna do with her?” Eugene asked, standing in front of Rapunzel.

“I will extinguish her light,” he said. “I will save the world before the so-called Guardians of Light destroy it.”

Rapunzel bit her lip. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m not going anywhere. I decide for myself where I go, and who I go with!”

Lauriam held out his hand. “Then I suppose I’ll have to take you by force.” Of all things, a Keyblade formed in his grasp, long and covered in vines and thorns with an end sharpened to a deadly, curved point that called to mind his former scythe weapon. He leapt forward, slashing toward Eugene and Rapunzel, but Riku forced himself between them just in time, locking his Keyblade against Lauriam’s.

“I don’t know why a monster like you has been chosen to wield a Keyblade, but we already saved all the worlds three times over,” he said through gritted teeth. “And we’ll do it again and again, and we’ll do it our way.” He pushed with all his strength, overpowering Lauriam and sending him backward.

“I worked against the Organization from the inside,” Lauriam said, his voice deep with anger. The sudden surge of emotion surprised Riku. “I’m the one who gave you that blank Replica through Vexen and Demyx. You wouldn’t have won the Second Keyblade War if it wasn’t for me!”

“Are you looking for a thank you?” Riku asked, motioning to Eugene and Rapunzel to stay behind him. “I’m not gonna let you just take Rapunzel and do whatever you want with her. That isn’t the way.”

“So be it,” said Lauriam, his gaze hard. He held his Keyblade forward in challenge.

“We’ll fight, too,” said Rapunzel, stepping forward. She hefted the frying pan while Eugene unsheathed a dagger at his belt.

  
Riku nodded at them and answered Lauriam’s challenge, rushing forward. He opened his attack with a flurry of dark fireballs, which Lauriam deflected with magic of his own. He sidestepped Riku, then caught Eugene’s arm before he could slice at him with the dagger, hitting him in the ribs with the hilt of his Keyblade. As Eugene recoiled from the blow, Lauriam kicked him away, but wasn’t prepared for Rapunzel’s smash to his head.

Lauriam groaned in pain, but before he could retaliate against her Riku slashed at him, dark tendrils of energy following the swing of his Keyblade. Lauriam managed to jump away, holding a hand to his head, but he gestured with his Keyblade and thorny vines erupted from the ground. Riku kept light on his feet, but couldn’t avoid a few vines that swept at him, their thorns biting into his skin. He blasted it all with another fire spell, grunting with the exertion. He had to use a lot of magic to fight the light Heartless and he was starting to get tired out.

The sky opened up above them, causing all four of them to stop fighting and look. A portal opened and the hum of magic rent the air, giving them a glimpse of the stars between worlds. Light burst from the portal, but instead of more gummi pieces showering out, an armored figure appeared on what looked like a waverider. The person landed on the ground, the metal of their armor clanking together, while the waverider transformed into a Keyblade that they held in their hand. Riku didn’t need the armor to melt away, which it did a moment later, to recognize the wielder as Xion.

“Xion!” he exclaimed. “What’re you doing here?”

“I came to help you,” she said, smiling. “Guess I was a bit late, though… you wouldn’t believe the things I saw on the pathways of light!” She looked to his opponent, her Keyblade at the ready. “Wait, is that Marluxia?”

“I’ll explain later,” said Riku, turning to face Lauriam again. He felt his face reddening - he still felt awkward sometimes about the fact that, a while back, he did try to kill her. She didn’t seem to have any hard feelings about it, but Riku couldn’t help but dwell on things from his past, even now.

“Oh, what a day…” Eugene said with a sigh. “Now people are appearing in flashes of light?”

“Don’t let your guard down,” said Rapunzel, giving a quick smile to the new arrival. 

Lauriam stepped back as his four opponents closed in on him, surrounding him on all sides. “I see you are enjoying your new life, Xion.”

“And I see you’re doing nefarious things with yours again, Marluxia,” she retorted. “Tell us. Is Xehanort back? Is he behind this?”

“No, that man has nothing to do with any of this now,” he replied, as casually as if they were discussing this over dinner. “No… this is the light’s doing.”

“That again,” said Xion, scowling. “We’re not gonna fall for your lies so easily!”

“Oh? Well, look above you,” he said. Riku followed his gaze, staring at the sky where Xion just appeared. The rend through space still shimmered, not fully closed yet, but then ripped wide open when an enormous, glowing claw forced its way through. The claw was followed by a beastly arm, and finally a gaping, toothy maw as the largest light Heartless yet forced its way into the world. “I’ll use this opportunity to take my leave,” said Lauriam, disappearing into a dark corridor.

“Wait!” Riku yelled, but he was too late. He looked back up at the sky as their new opponent dropped from the portal, which sealed itself back up when the Heartless crashed to the ground. Its long arms rippled with muscle, claws tearing at the earth with each step it took. It stood on two feet, encased in shining greaves, while crystals of even greater luster orbited around its monstrous head. It let out a blood-curdling roar, light flashing from the crystals even brighter than the light of the setting sun over the valley’s rim.

“Did that… did that follow me from the pathways between worlds?” Xion stammered, stepping back. “But how?”

“Okay, do you guys have a plan?” Eugene asked. “Because that thing’s blocking the exit, so we can’t really run.”

“Can we… can we fight that?” Rapunzel asked, fear in her eyes for the first time since Riku met her.

“We’re gonna have to,” Riku replied. “Xion, did you come across this on your way here?”

“No, not this one,” she said, stepping forward alongside him. “But there were so many light Heartless between the worlds, way more than there ever were dark Heartless. It took everything I had just to get here.”

Before Riku could respond further, the creature charged, roaring again as its massive claws ripped through the dirt and flowers toward them. As it got closer, Riku realized it was almost as tall as Rapunzel’s tower, and several times as wide. Riku stepped in front of them all, feeling his Keyblade’s form change into a tower shield. He planted it into the ground just in time for an impenetrable magic barrier to come into being, which the Heartless slammed into with a mighty crash.

He grunted against the effort, but it worked to protect the others as they launched into an attack. Xion vaulted over him and slashed multiple times at the creature’s arms, using magic to propel herself higher and higher up toward its head. Eugene went for its hind legs, while Rapunzel kept Riku healed from the majority of its onslaught. He slammed his shield at its claws while it raked at him in return, doing all he could to keep its focus on him.

Xion’s Kingdom Key transformed as well, this time into a massive frying pan to mimic Rapunzel’s, which she slammed into the Heartless multiple times. It howled in pain from the combined attacks, but when it drew back, instead of roaring again the crystals flashed, and fire as white hot as the sun seared the earth all around it. Flames licked at Riku’s skin even through his magicked shielding, and when he looked up at the monster again it looked none the worse for wear.

“Eugene!” Rapunzel cried, getting as close to him as she dared. He lay prone under its feet, and even from where he stood Riku could tell he was badly burned. She cast healing spells at him, but he didn’t stir.

“Xion!” Riku called, and she looked at him and nodded, understanding his unspoken plan. Unharmed by the sun fire, she went on the offensive, drawing its attention so Riku could guide Rapunzel to Eugene to heal him. He saw her frying pan morph into a dagger like Eugene's, which she used to great effect flipping and blocking through the creature’s attacks. Her diversion allowed Rapunzel to reach Eugene, and once he got close enough Riku thankfully noted he was still breathing. “He’s gonna be okay, Rapunzel.”

She cradled his head in her lap, tears falling from her eyes. “I can’t lose you, Eugene. Don’t do this to me again, please!” She began singing something to him, but Riku couldn’t hear the words.

Riku clenched his fist, turning back to the Heartless, which was beginning to overpower Xion. Dark magic formed over his fist as his shield morphed back into his Keyblade, and just as he was about to go on the offensive again, a flash of light greater than all the others erupted over the rim of the valley from a distant horizon.

“Xion, we need to get out of here!” he shouted to her. He wasn’t sure if she heard him, but he turned to Rapunzel and Eugene. The latter seemed to be stirring, so he helped Rapunzel lift him up, throwing Eugene’s arm over his shoulders to help him along.

Eugene looked at him through bleary eyes. “Okay… maybe you’re not… so bad…”

At the flash of light, the monstrous Heartless stopped attacking Xion, so she took the opportunity to escape the valley with the others, Rapunzel in the lead while Xion took up the rear. They fled back into the forest, stopping just for a moment to catch their breaths and so Riku could look over Eugene. The rogue didn’t seem fit to travel at all - heavy burns still covered his arms and singed his clothes and he fought to stay conscious. Even so, they couldn’t leave him behind. Riku was no expert at healing magic, but he knew this didn’t look good.

“I’m so, so, so, so sorry,” Xion said, fretting over him and biting her lip. “I don’t know how this thing followed me here.”

The sun seemed as if it got brighter, lighting up the sky in streaks of orange. He saw the blazing white light over the horizon, and he knew the giant Heartless they fought in the valley was still there. “It isn’t your fault, Xion.” He fixed his gaze on her. “Thank you for coming to help me. Truly.”

“We have to get him back to town and find help,” said Rapunzel, wiping away her tears. “But we’re so far away…”

Riku spoke with confidence he wasn’t sure he felt. “We can make it.”

The monstrous light Heartless’ claw appeared over the ridge, apparently still intent on hunting them down. Riku and Xion drew their Keyblades again. Its face appeared over the ridge next, its eyes spotting them, as the crystals orbiting its head glowed once more with power. Riku braced for the impact as the creature opened its maw to roar again, but sound vanished all at once as if sucked away by the void of space.

The light washed over them all in an instant, the Heartless included, which simply looked up and spread its arms as if in welcome to the light. The light just kept getting brighter and brighter, forcing Riku to shield his eyes. After it erupted, sound seemed to come back all at once, blasting his ears with the howl of a blazing inferno. “Wh-what is this?!”

He felt Xion standing next to him, grasping his hand, and he felt her fear as easily as his own. “It’s… it’s the light,” Xion said, staring at the Heartless as if transfixed. Riku saw the light in her eyes intensifying, especially as the light around them became too bright to handle. “This world, it’s… it’s somehow falling to the light!”

Something in his pocket began to vibrate, and with a start Riku realized it was the gummi shard. He pulled it out, and the star was glowing, too. It pulsed with a golden light, which enveloped Riku, Xion, Rapunzel, and Eugene, and he felt them all fading away just as the white light flooded the entire world.

* * *

Roxas urged Ven and Axel through the city sewers, though Axel didn’t know what all the rush was for. Twilight Town, so far, seemed untouched by the light Heartless, so he didn’t see a reason for them to tear through town trying to find his friends. But Roxas was his friend, his best friend, so he figured he’d go along with it for his sake.

“Why are we going through the sewers again?” Ven asked Roxas as they ran.

“This leads to the old mansion outside of town,” Roxas replied, panting. “Hayner, Pence, and Olette weren’t at their usual hangout, so something tells me they’re out this way. I just have a bad feeling about all this.”

Axel still didn’t really understand much about Roxas’ life in the data world Ansem the Wise created, but he did know those three held a special place in his heart. He followed Roxas and Ven out into the forest, where, for the first time in a long time, they came across dark Heartless, which attacked them. “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” said Axel, as he cleaved through them with his Keyblade, “but I’m actually relieved to see some regular, run-of-the-mill Heartless here.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird though, isn’t it?” Ven asked, dispatching more in his path. Once the three cleared them out, Roxas wordlessly continued ahead. "Is it because this is a world in the Realm Between?"

More dark Heartless greeted them at the mansion gates, but this time, there were light Heartless, too. Luckily, there didn’t seem to be nearly as many as there were at Radiant Garden.

All three drew their Keyblades, but before they went on the offensive, Ven held out a hand to his companions. “Wait. Are they… attacking each other?”

“Heartless and Nobodies have been known to do that,” Axel noted. “But to see different kinds of Heartless do that? Yeah, that’s weird.”

“Look!” Roxas called out. “Inside the gates! It’s Hayner, Pence, and Olette!” He rushed ahead, and as they entered the courtyard, Axel was surprised to see that all three of Roxas’ friends wielded Keyblades of their own. Furthermore, though they were swinging wildly and unskillfully at the light Heartless, their Keyblades managed to defeat them in one blow. Axel had to squint to see it, but he could even make out darkness trailing behind each of their swings.

“Roxas!” Hayner called out, as he stood back to back with Pence and Olette. Alone out of all of them, he seemed to be having the most fun. “Check this out!”

“What? How?” Roxas asked, stunned. He fought his way through to them while Axel and Ven followed close behind. “When did you guys get Keyblades?”

“It kind of just happened!” Pence cried, swinging blindly. “We were out here investigating this flash of light that appeared, and then these all showed up…”

“Are they Heartless and Nobodies?” Olette asked. “We’re having better luck against the light ones…”

“I think those are Keyblades of Darkness,” Axel said, eyes wide. “But how’d that happen?”

“Doesn’t the Realm of Light choose Keyblade wielders?” Ven asked as they dispatched the last of the Heartless. With all six of them, it was easy work. “Maybe… now the Realm of Darkness is choosing them too? Maybe those masked people used Keyblades of Darkness!”

Roxas frowned, worry written all over his features. “Something’s not right.”

A dark corridor opened up near the gates, and two figures emerged from it. “Correct,” said a man, who was first to appear. He wore white robes in the same style as the Bear and the Serpent in Radiant Garden, but his mask was that of a unicorn’s. “Things are very, very wrong across all the realms right now.”

Axel put his Keyblade over his shoulder, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. With only himself, Roxas, and Ven trained and able to fight, he wasn’t sure how good their odds were, especially if the Unicorn was as strong as the others who appeared at Ansem’s library. “You’re with that Bear and Serpent, aren’t you, Unicorn man?”

The Unicorn scoffed. “I don’t have time for this.” He turned to his companion, and Axel’s eyes widened once again when he recognized the person at his side. “Elrena.”

“Larxene?!” Roxas exclaimed. “But how?”

“Now, now, you just heard him say my name,” she said, wagging her finger. “I’ve reformed, just like you,  _ Lea _ .”

He rolled his eyes at her. “And yet you’re working with the bad guys. Again.”

She shrugged. “From my perspective, I’m one of the good guys. It’s  _ your  _ light that’s a danger to everything.”

“Elrena,” the Unicorn repeated. “Do it.”

“Fine, fine,” she said with a sigh. “I don’t like taking orders anymore, you know.” She smirked at Axel, and quick as a flash of lightning, she was at Ven’s side. She held a Keyblade, of all things, in her hand, which crackled with energy and seemed shorter and slimmer than any Keyblade Axel had ever seen.

“Whoa!” Ven exclaimed as she grabbed him by the wrist. Lightning coursed through his body, stunning him, and Elrena opened up a dark corridor, which the Unicorn disappeared into.

“Ven!” Roxas shouted, diving through the dark corridor after them just as Elrena disappeared with Ven in her grasp. Axel tried to follow, but the dark corridor closed, taking both Roxas and Ven with it.

“Uh… that’s not good,” Axel said rubbing the back of his neck and turning to the three that were left.

“What? Where’d they take Roxas and Ven?” Hayner asked. “Let’s go after them!”

“Not so fast,” Axel told him. “I have no idea where they went.”

Olette clasped her hands together. “Well… we’ve got to do something!”

Axel stared at the space where his friends disappeared, worry growing deep within his stomach. “Yeah… we do. I do.”

* * *

 

He floated in a white void.

 

_ Who are you, Riku? _

 

“What kind of question is that? You just said my name.”

 

_ But who are you? A leader? Or a follower? A champion? Or a shadow? _

 

“I… I’m trying. So hard… To be a leader.” Was he? Or wasn’t he just off in other worlds all the time?

 

_ You’re trying to fill…  _ his _ shoes. And yet you’re running away. _

 

“Who… are you?” The voice seemed to be both in his head and all around him. It was a deep voice, unfamiliar.

 

_ An old master, long gone. But you won’t remember this when you wake. _

 

“Am I sleeping?”

 

_ You may never be a leader like you wish. Though you wield the light, you always support your friends from behind the scenes. You’re a shadow who protects the light. _

 

“What do you know…?” He wanted to move, to turn his head to find the source of the voice, but he wasn’t sure if he even had a physical form.

 

_ Wake up, Riku. _

 

* * *

 

She floated in a white void.

 

_ Who are you? _

 

“That’s… a silly question.” She found that she was capable of thought. “I’m... Xion.”

 

_ Are you? _

 

“I… I think so…”

 

_ But you were made from the memories of another. _

 

“I was… But… now I have my own memories.”

 

_ You were called a fake. _

 

She said nothing in return to the gravelly voice, like an old man’s, which felt familiar somehow.

 

_ Some may say you still are. _

 

“My heart is real. My memories are real. That’s all I need.”

 

_ Are your feelings real? Is your happiness real? Or is something missing? _

 

She didn’t like what this person was saying. “Who are you?”

 

_ Someone who no longer matters. An old foe. _

 

“Then… leave me alone.”

 

_ You are alone, at this moment. You will not remember this when you wake. _

 

“I’m sleeping?”

 

_ For now. But you need to wake up, Xion. _

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big question for everyone: Do you prefer long chapters or shorter ones? Some chapters have the potential to get very long, so I'm thinking of splitting them in two and updating twice a week instead of one big chapter once a week.  
> Another thing I've noticed about the fandom is that people don't seem to like characters getting to wield Keyblades all willy-nilly. Well, I hope I've explained why they're all getting them. There were hundreds and thousands of Keyblade wielders once upon a time, so why not?  
> Remember when I said Kairi's fighting style in gameplay was kind of a mix between Aqua and Ven? Magic and speed? Well, Riku's pretty balanced, leaning toward higher HP and usage of dark magic. This is to contrast with Sora, who's balanced but with better MP and light magic.  
> Xion's stats vary depending on which formchange she uses, and she has access to a lot because she can mimic the abilities of anyone she is fighting alongside/against, like she did with Saix in that final boss battle against her in KH3.


	6. Arendelle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the light Heartless begin invading all of the worlds, Roxas, with Ven and Axel in tow, heads to his second home: Twilight Town. He rushes to find Hayner, Pence, and Olette and ensure their safety. After discovering that they can wield Keyblades of Darkness, the Unicorn and Elrena appear and kidnap Ven, dragging him through a dark corridor, but Roxas dives in after them just in time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long one! I thought about splitting it in two chapters, but... hopefully this'll just be a one time thing.

Chapter 5. Arendelle

 

The first thing Ven felt upon being spit out of the dark corridor was the biting cold as Elrena dropped him in a pile of snow. He scampered away from the woman and the Unicorn and stood up, brushed the snow off of himself, and drew his Keyblade.

“Elrena! Why did you bring us here?” the Unicorn asked, his voice stern.

Elrena chuffed. “I dunno! I guess I’m just getting used to making the dark corridors again with my new body?” She shrugged and looked around, her tone becoming lighter. “Oh, I know this world.”

Before the Unicorn could reply back to her, Roxas jumped from the dark corridor just as it closed to strike at him with his dual Keyblades, but the Unicorn managed to block with his own Keyblade just in time.

“Who are you guys? How come you can all use Keyblades?” Roxas asked, jumping back to stand at Ven’s side. He glared at Elrena. “You especially. I never would’ve thought you’d be considered worthy.”

“We’ve been using them long before you ever could,” the Unicorn replied. “Yield, or we will have to use force.”

“Can’t we just skip to the using force part?” Elrena asked with a smirk. She tapped her unusually short Keyblade against the palm of her hand. “I wanna see how this thing holds up against theirs.”

Ven gripped his Keyblade tightly. “Why would we surrender t o you? Give us Ansem back!”

“‘Give us Ansem back,’” Elrena mocked him. “Wow, Ven, you sound way more pathetic than you used to. Well, if you won’t surrender, guess that means we’re gonna fight!” She launched into an attack, striking at Ven almost quicker than he could react. Her Keyblade barely touched his as she moved to attack again, fast as lightning. Her element of choice crackled around her as she danced around him, but he managed to parry all of her blows and strike back in quick succession.

“Aeroga!” he shouted, covering himself in a barrier of wind to push her away. The spell cut through the air toward her, but she pointed her Keyblade skyward and cast a spell of her own. “What do you mean, ‘than you used to’? What’re you talking about?”

“Thundaga!” Lightning strikes impacted against the ground all around her, forcing Ven to use the wind to propel himself away. “You’re gonna have to beat me to find out!”

“Elrena, why are you helping them? You’re even still wearing your Organization coat!” Roxas asked between swings as he engaged with the Unicorn. “I thought your Nobody was evil, but you’re just bad all around, aren’t you?”

Her lighthearted demeanor abruptly switched to cold detachment. “You don’t know anything, Roxas.” She stepped back from Ven, her boots sinking deep into the snow. Ven realized for the first time that they were on a mountain, its slope rising high behind her and its peaks frosted by a distant blizzard. “Compared to us, you’re basically a baby.”

“What d’you mean?” Ven asked. There  _ was  _ so much they still didn’t know, and it scared him. The last time he felt like he was being led around by the nose, kept in the dark, he ended up separated from his friends and his own heart for more than a decade. “Tell me. Why did you take just me to this world?”

“We didn’t intend to come to this world,” the Unicorn said, his voice level. “Elrena made an error. We need to finish here.” He gestured at Roxas, beams of light firing from his fingertips. Roxas dived out of the way and the light crashed into a snowdrift, making powder erupt from where he stood moments before. The Unicorn slashed his Keyblade through the air and a powerful holy spell burst around Roxas, making him gasp in pain.

Ven went back on the attack just as Roxas flashed back in combat with the Unicorn, his Keyblades glowing with power. Ven did all he could to dodge and weave around Elrena’s quick and powerful attacks, but he faltered just once, slipping in the snow, and she hit him as hard as a bolt of lightning. He shouted out as he was launched backwards, landing painfully in a snowdrift. Though the wind was knocked out of him, he managed to look up in time to see Roxas get beat back by both of their consecutive attacks, so Ven forced himself to his feet to continue fighting alongside his friend.

Right when he was about to leap back into the fray, the snow and ice swirled up around the Unicorn and Elrena, lifting them into the air and pushing them away from Roxas. Ice spikes nearly impaled the two in midair, but the Unicorn managed to destroy them with light magic as the force of the sudden updraft knocked them away. Roxas turned to Ven, astonished. “Was that you?”

Ven shook his head. “No way!”

“Stand back!” The arrival of a young woman with white hair and an elegant gown took both of them by surprise, who stood in front of them facing their adversaries without any sort of weapon in her hands. She was the one who shouted at them to stand back. Two more people - a man and a woman in heavy furs - and a moose followed behind her. The first woman gestured with her hands and the snow rose up from the ground as if under her command, converging on the Unicorn and Elrena. The two glanced at each other, and Elrena seemed like she was going to attack, but instead they disappeared into a dark corridor. Elrena held eye contact with Ven until she disappeared, a smirk on her lips.

Ven turned to the woman with white hair. “Wow, that was amazing magic! Thanks for the help.”

She smiled at them, but hesitated once she really looked at them. “You’re welcome. Um… I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else. I saw your weapons, and…”

The man in furs crossed his arms. “You guys kinda look like the guy we were looking for. Elsa, you didn’t attack the wrong people, did you?”

The woman with the white hair, Elsa, shook her head. “No. I recognized the one in the black coat. She caused a lot of trouble last time she was here, and Sora fought against her. Before they left, Donald and Goofy told me to look out for any more signs of her.”

Roxas dismissed his Keyblades and hugged himself, rubbing his arms for warmth. “Y-you know S-Sora, Donald, and G-g-goofy?”

The other woman in furs scratched the moose behind the ears, who let out a low grunt of appreciation. “Yeah! They’re friends of ours, though we haven’t seen them in a while… Y’know, come to think of it, it was snowing last time, too. But that was magic winter, this time it’s real winter.”

The man glanced at her with one eyebrow raised in amusement. “Yes, I’m sure they understand the passage of seasons.”

“They’re our friends, too,” said Ven, his hand on his chest. “You said you were looking for someone? Was it them?”

The three strangers exchanged glances with each other, but Elsa nodded. “Yes, we are.” As Ven also started hugging himself for warmth, he wondered how she wasn’t freezing to death in her thin dress.

“D-does it have to do with any strange m-monsters showing up?” Roxas asked, shivering.

Elsa’s face turned solemn. “Yes. Last time, Sora said they were called the Heartless. Now they’re a bit… different.”

Ven looked at his palms, wondering just how much fighting awaited them. He just wished his Keyblade could do more against the forces of light Heartless. “We’ll help you. My name’s Ventus, but you can call me Ven. And this is Roxas. Those monsters you’ve been seeing, well… they’re still Heartless, but now they’re made of light instead of darkness.”

“Well that doesn’t sound good,” said the woman in furs. “Anyway, my name is Anna. The big guy is Kristoff, the moose is Sven, and Elsa there is my sister,” she said, gesturing to everyone in turn. She started rummaging through a pack on Kristoff’s back. “Here, let me get you guys something to keep you warm…” She unfurled two rich blue cloaks, trimmed with colorful red and yellow patterns on the hems.

“Hey!” Kristoff protested. “What if we need those? You’re just gonna give those away to two strangers?”

“They’re not strangers,” said Anna. Sven snorted at her. “They’re friends of Sora, right? And we owe him for his help last time!” Both Ven and Roxas accepted the cloaks gratefully, wrapping them around themselves and immediately feeling warmer. As she handed them the cloaks, she smiled. “Are you two twins? You look exactly alike!”

Ven and Roxas looked at each other. The truth was far more complicated than that, so in lieu of an explanation, they just shrugged. “Uh… yeah,” they said.

“That’s amazing!” said Anna. “You two fight so well together. You must be really close, just like me and Elsa!”

Ven grinned sheepishly, putting his hands behind his head. “Heh, yeah, kind of.” In truth, he still didn’t know Roxas very well, and these past few months since the end of the Keyblade War they never got enough time together, since Ven trained with Aqua and Roxas stayed with his friends in Radiant Garden or Twilight Town.

“Do you know how to stop these Heartless, then?” Elsa asked. “I’m the only one who’s really been able to fight them.”

“Well, not that Anna and I aren’t trying, but, y’know, magic is way more effective,” Kristoff mumbled to himself. “We’re doing all we can to prevent them from getting into town. Olaf is back there keeping an eye on things, which I still think is a terrible idea, but…”

“Town?” Roxas asked. “Where are we, anyway?”

Anna gestured down the mountain path and a bay far below them. On the shore, Ven could make out a tiny castle town, smoke rising from a multitude of chimneys. “Arendelle. Are you from far away, like Sora?”

Ven nodded. “Yeah! Really, really far.” He frowned, turning to Elsa. “We’ve been trying to stop them, but they’re harder to beat than the dark Heartless were.”

Kristoff crossed his arms again. “So you’re just as clueless as we are, huh?” He scratched the moose’s chin and glanced at Anna and Elsa. “Can we even trust these guys? We just met them.”

Anna nodded. “Oh, I’ve got a good feeling about these two.”

Kristoff scoffed. “Like you’ve got the best track record…”

Anna slapped him on the arm. “They’re friends of Sora! And since he’s not here, and we owe him, we owe it to his friends to help them!”

“Hey!” Kristoff said, rubbing his arm. “Alright, alright, I’m just wary about bringing them home, okay? My family’s weird about strangers, you know that.” At their questioning looks, he turned to Ven and Roxas, explaining. “We were on our way to visit my family when we ran into you guys. They might know what’s going on, or how to help.”

“You can trust us,” said Ven. He summoned his Keyblade, holding it out to show them. He thought back to Aqua’s lessons with the new Keyblade wielders, and how she’d introduce their new purpose to all the recruits. “These Keyblades are a symbol that we’re here to protect everyone we can. We won’t let the world fall to darkness… or in this case, light. We travel where we must to maintain the world order.”

“We’ll come along, if you don’t mind,” said Roxas, nodding to Ven. “Lead the way.”

Elsa nodded, smiling at them for the first time. Ven noticed that she held herself with grace, even with a regal bearing, kind of like Aqua did. “Thank you,” she said. “I am glad to have you and your Keyblades at our side.”

As Elsa, Kristoff, Anna, and Sven led the way, Ven and Roxas held back, glancing at each other. “So, what should we do? Go with them?” Ven asked.

“I can’t think of any better ideas,” Roxas replied. “We’ve got no other leads. We can go back to meet up with Axel, but I think it’s a better idea to try and see how we can help this world. Larxene - er, I mean Elrena - has got to be up to something and I want to know what it is.”

“Not to mention that Unicorn guy,” said Ven. “His robes were the same as that Bear and Serpent. They’ve got to be working together.” Ven’s gummiphone started ringing in his pocket, so he pulled it out to see that Aqua was calling him. He pressed the accept button, and Aqua’s face appeared on the tiny screen.

“Ven! Where are you? Axel called and told me what happened! Are you okay? Where’d those two people go?”

“I’m fine!” said Ven. “Roxas is with me. He came to help. We’re in this world to try and figure out what Elrena and that guy are up to, so don’t worry about us.”

Aqua frowned. “Of course I’m going to worry. Want me to come and help?”

He shook his head. “No, I think we can handle it. Also, we met these two girls, and I think one of them might be the New Seven Hearts. She has this really cool power to control ice!”

“Where are you?” she asked.

“Arendelle,” Roxas replied, coming closer to look into the screen. “At least according to those people we met.”

Aqua tapped her cheek. “Did you happen to meet anyone named Anna or Elsa? Riku said those should be the names of the New Seven Hearts, according to what Larxene told Donald and Goofy back when they met.”

Ven and Roxas looked at each other. “Well, that solves that,” said Ven. “Yeah, we met them both. Okay, we’ll do what we can to figure out what’s corrupting their powers, too.” He grinned at her. “Thanks, Aqua!”

Her face was full of worry, her brow furrowed. “You two be careful, okay? And keep us all updated. It’s good that you found more of the New Seven Hearts already, but now we need to focus our efforts on learning the identities of the others. We’ll be hard at work with that while you guys are there.”

“Got it,” said Ven.

“Hey, are you guys alright?” Anna asked from up ahead. “You’re falling behind!”

Ven waved at her, then turned back to the screen. “Okay, we gotta go. See you!”

Aqua put the gummiphone closer to her face. “Okay, be caref -”

Ven hung up the phone hurriedly when Anna trudged back over through the snow. “What’re you guys looking at?” she asked.

“Nothing at all,” said Ven.

“Our, uh, fingers were numb, so we were trying to rub feeling back into them,” Roxas said.

“Not used to the cold, huh?” Anna asked knowingly. “You should’ve come a few months ago, this is nothing compared to that.” They walked along with her, hurrying to catch up with Elsa and Kristoff. “Things are much better now, though. Arendelle is much more welcoming, and our castle gates are always open! And Elsa’s still getting used to being queen, but I can tell she likes it. I try to help her whenever I can.”

“Whoa, Elsa’s a queen?” Ven asked, eyes wide. “That’s so cool!”

Anna beamed. “I know, right?”

“Oh man, we gotta treat her with more respect, don’t we?” Ven asked Roxas.

Roxas grimaced. “I guess so. We really embarrassed ourselves, didn’t we?”

“Does that make you a princess?” Ven asked her. “You’re different from the other princesses I’ve met!”

Anna looked smug. “Yeah it does! And thanks, I guess? I try.” Ven and Roxas both laughed along with her, and as they did Ven thought back to Aqua’s words. If Anna was one of the New Seven Hearts, nothing about her seemed corrupt at all.

As they walked, a trio of light Heartless appeared, all taking the form of the mushroom-shaped White Mages. They charged for Anna, but Ven and Roxas stepped into their path and swung their Keyblades, knocking them back closer to Elsa and Kristoff. Kristoff jumped on Sven’s back to charge at them, but when Sven lowered his head to smash his antlers against the Heartless, his Heartless opponent turned and charged toward Anna again.

Elsa froze it in its tracks before it could reach her sister while Ven and Roxas finished off the other two. After the Heartless were all dispatched, Elsa turned to the Keyblade wielders, her tone business-like. “How come they always seem to go for Anna the most? And… that time one of them seemed to go after you, Ventus.”

“Just Anna?” Roxas asked. “Not you?”

“You just saw them,” said Elsa, gesturing to where the Heartless used to be. “I haven’t let Anna leave my side because of it.”

Ven put one hand on his hip and one on his chin, thinking. Was Elsa not one of the New Seven Hearts after all? “They’re after the light in Anna’s heart. Her heart and my heart are, um… a bit different from everyone else’s.”

“They are?” Anna asked. “Why’s that?”

Ven decided, after silently agreeing with Roxas, that it was best to tell them everything about the New Seven Hearts, the Princesses of Heart, and how they suspected both Anna and Elsa to be one of the chosen seven. They explained that Larxene came last time to discern it for the Organization, and how it was their job as Guardians of Light to protect the Princess’ legacy. They even vaguely mentioned the recent clash between light and darkness and the subsequent appearance of the light Heartless.

After they finished, Elsa examined her hands with something of a forlorn look in her eyes. “Pure light in our hearts? Maybe Anna has it, but I don’t think I do. Not with this power.”

“That again?” Anna asked, frowning. “You know not to be afraid of it anymore!”

She shook her head. “I’m not. I just don’t think my abilities were born from the light. I think… I think there’s darkness in me, Anna. Darkness that you lack.”

Roxas shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with that. Everyone has darkness in them except for the seven Princess of Heart.”

Kristoff chuckled. He sat atop Sven during their explanation, leaning against his massive antlers. “And Ven, apparently. Are you one of the Princesses too?” The moose looked up at him with a questioning grunt. “Not you, Sven.  _ Ven _ . But you’d make a pretty princess, too!” Sven looked satisfied with that answer.

Ven scowled. “No! My circumstances are kinda different.” The darkness was extracted from his heart, which made him think of Vanitas. He shivered, though not due to the cold.

“I see,” said Elsa, folding her hands in front of her. “Shall we continue, then?”

“Wow…” Anna said to herself as they walked, looking up at the steely blue sky. “Me, one of the New Seven Hearts… I guess that’s pretty special, huh?”

Kristoff led them to his family’s home, but as they neared they encountered more and more of the light Heartless. With every encounter, Kristoff looked more and more uneasy. He stopped when they reached a rock quarry, wide open and completely filled with scores of light Heartless. Ven saw the Heartless attacking squat, grey little creatures who seemed to transform into perfectly round boulders and roll around, either to flee to safety or to attack the Heartless. “No!” Kristoff shouted, charging off into the chaos without hesitation.

“Oh, no!” Anna exclaimed. “They found the trolls!”

Ven, Roxas, and Elsa leapt into action, attacking as many of the light Heartless they could. Ven put aside the appearance of the strange little trolls, only seeing that they feared for their lives against the Heartless onslaught. He fought with Keyblade and magic, but things weren’t looking good. There were too many Heartless, too many trolls to protect.

Anna shouted something from the entrance, and Ven turned to see one of the Heartless closing in on her.

“Hey, you! Stay back!” she shouted at it. She wielded a large tree branch like a spear. “Don’t come any closer. I’ve got way more light than you, you know! I’m made of it, apparently! And I bet it’s completely stronger than yours, so don’t try me!”

Ven rushed over to help her, but slid to a stop when he saw the light Heartless halt its attack. The Paladin lowered its blade. When Anna gestured threateningly at it again, it knelt to her, as if swearing fealty. “Huh?” Ven had never seen anything like it. Even Anna seemed surprised by its action, but before they could do anything else a bolt of lightning obliterated it completely.

Ven looked up to see Elrena appear over the edge of the quarry. “It looks a little bright in here,” she said, her Keyblade held aloft. Before Ven could attack her, she sprung into action against the other Heartless, dispatching them with ease. She made no move against Ven or the others, so he let her be, and hesitantly together they managed to dispatch the rest of the Heartless.

Afterward, Ven, Roxas, Anna, and Elsa stood together against Elrena while Kristoff tended after the trolls.

“Why did you help us?” Roxas asked, his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“I wield a Keyblade of Darkness,” she said, dismissing said Keyblade. She shrugged at them and rolled her eyes. “Stopping light Heartless is what I do.”

“A Keyblade of Darkness…?” Ven asked. “Like the King?” And just like Roxas' friends, too, apparently. Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

“Like your king,” she affirmed. “Ugh, this is so annoying. The light has become too powerful, you know, which is the only reason why I decided to help you.”

“You were fighting Roxas and Ven before though!” Anna exclaimed. “Why’re you helping now?”

“Yeah, I never figured you were the altruistic type,” said Roxas. He looked around, Keyblades at the ready. “Is the Unicorn here?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “No, he isn’t. I wanted to talk to Ven.”

Ven blinked. “Me? Why? We’ve never even met.”

Elrena crossed her arms and pouted. “Aww, little Ven doesn’t remember me? I was a Dandelion, like you, way before all this happened. I started remembering after I reformed again at the end our little clash six months ago.”

Ven averted his eyes. “You were? How come I don’t remember?”

“Don’t know, don’t care, but we’ve been assembled for a new purpose,” she replied. “Braig summoned us all together, even the Foretellers. The Dandelions were created to keep the light alive after darkness prevailed in the first war. This time, we were formed to keep the darkness alive after light won. Braig called us Thorns, so that sounds fun, right?”

“Braig?” Roxas asked, his head tilted in confusion. “You mean Xigbar?”

“Y’know, I honestly don’t know if he’s still a Nobody or not,” she replied, shrugging again. “So call him what you like.”

“So the people in the animal hoods are the Foretellers, aren’t they?” Ven asked, his voice low. “They fight like true Keyblade masters. They’ve got to be.” Maybe they would be able to tell Ven more about who he truly was.

“Yeah, yeah, you got it,” Elrena replied, waving her hand dismissively.

Elsa turned to Ven. “You know… the trolls command magic that allows them to alter memories,” she said. “They changed Anna’s memories when she was a child to save her. Maybe they can help you remember what you forgot.”

“Can they?” Ven asked, suddenly hopeful.

Kristoff approached them with one of the boulder-looking trolls at his side, warily glancing at Elrena. “Yeah… they can,” he said. “Thank you all for helping to defend my home. I’d like you to meet my Grand-Pabbie.” He gestured to the short troll, who to Ven looked like an old man.

The old troll peered at Ven, but spoke to them all. “As Kristoff said, I would like to thank you all for protecting us. You’ve got a strong heart, child. With light as pure as Anna’s.” He said the last part to Ven, and gestured for him to get lower. Ven knelt down at his side. Pabbie put a hand to Ven’s forehead and closed his eyes. “Hmm… you’ve been touched by powerful magic, my boy. And... ah, the darkness was extracted from you. You were not born with the pure light within you, were you?”

Ven shook his head. “No, I wasn’t.”

Pabbie grunted and opened his eyes. “Before that, you are a blank slate, I’m afraid. All I can say is that your memory loss is not caused by any spell.”

He sighed, supposing that getting answers was hoping for too much. “I see. Thank you.”

“Pabbie, is there anything we can do to stop these Heartless?” Anna asked.

“I cannot say,” he replied. “I’ve never seen anything like them. I believe your friends know more,” he said, gesturing to Ven, Roxas, and Elrena.

“We’ve got to seal the world’s keyhole,” said Elrena. “Duh!”

“Where’s that?” Ven asked.

Elrena rolled her eyes again. “How should I know? But we should probably get to town. Those Heartless are probably gonna attack at any moment, since little miss pure heart and my super powerful Keyblade scared them off the mountain.”

Anna looked smug. “Well, not to brag, but…”

“The town?!” Elsa exclaimed. “We have to go, then! As fast as we can.”

“Sven can only fit two of us,” said Kristoff, scratching his head. “I probably shouldn’t have left my sled back in town…”

Elsa gestured and ice came together to form two sleek, shining sleds. “There! We’ll use those!” She got on one, Roxas riding behind her, while Anna and Ven boarded another. Kristoff leapt onto Sven’s back.

“I wanna ride the moose!” Elrena exclaimed, grinning happily. “Look at him! He’s so big and fluffy!”

Kristoff looked at her with distaste, but there was no time to argue, so she jumped up behind him riding side-saddle. “Bye, Grand-Pabbie!” Kristoff shouted back as they departed.

The two sleds sped through the snow, propelled by Elsa’s magic, and Ven grinned while the wind rustled through his hair. He was able to put the thoughts of his missing memories behind him for now, enjoying the sleigh ride. “This is so much fun!”

“Isn’t it?” Anna replied, looking back at him and grinning. “Isn’t my big sister the coolest? Uh, no pun intended!”

“She really is,” said Ven.

“Though you two are the same age, you seem like you look up to Roxas like he’s your big brother,” she observed. “Let me guess - he’s the older twin?”

“Er, no,” Ven replied. “I guess I’m technically older. The ones I really look up to are two of my close friends. I know them better.”

“Better than your own brother?”

“Well, that’s a long story…” He didn’t realize it was that obvious that he looked to Roxas for leadership, and wondered if that meant he was less of an adult. He had hoped by now he’d at least be as responsible as Aqua and Terra. He was older than them, wasn’t he? Older than all of his friends…

They rode the rest of the way to Arendelle in silence, but he glanced over at Roxas and Elsa’s sled as they sped through the snow.

 

* * *

 

As they rode to the town of Arendelle, Roxas and Elsa sat mostly in silence, since Roxas had a lot on his mind and he supposed she was concentrating on their movement. Elsa, however, was the first to break the silence.

“If Anna’s heart is made of pure light,” she said, “does that make mine full of darkness?”

“Why do you say that?” Roxas asked.

“I don’t know where my powers came from,” she replied. She looked down, but Roxas couldn’t see her face. “I was just wondering.”

“No,” he said. “I can sense plenty light in you.”

She took a deep breath. “Okay. Thank you.” She was silent again for a while, but then glanced back at him. “You remind me of Sora. It’s no wonder Ven looks up to you.”

He was taken aback by her statement. “I do? Why?” He didn’t even notice that Ven looked up to him.

“You have this presence about you,” she said. “Almost like a king. Like Sora did. He cared when we first met. He didn’t want me to be alone, and he fought to save me and my kingdom when he didn’t even know us.”

“I’m no king, Your Majesty,” he said.

She shook her head. “You don’t have to be one. I just mean you have the bearing of a leader.” She paused, giving Roxas time to digest her words. “By the way you react every time we mention Sora, I can tell something bad happened to him.”

He looked away. “Yeah…”

“I’m sorry,” she replied. “I don’t know what happened, but I’m sure your hearts will find each other again soon.”

He didn’t want Ven or any of the others to look up to him. Not like they looked up to Sora. It felt… wrong, somehow. He didn’t want to be Sora’s replacement. He already had to give up everything for Sora once before. Sora was his friend now, undeniably a part of Roxas, and he missed him, but Roxas was his own person.

Their sleds came to a halt before the city gates, putting an end to the conversation. All of them spotted dancing lights atop the castle ramparts, and a moment later they heard the sounds of screaming and chaos within the city. “They’ve attacked!” Anna exclaimed, rushing ahead. “We have to help!”

Elsa got off of the sled just as Sven rode up behind them bearing Kristoff and Elrena. “Anna, stay back!”

“I can’t!” she cried back at Elsa. “This is my home, too! I won’t stand here waiting when I can help!”

Elrena jumped off of Sven and ran ahead, Keyblade sparking. Ven followed after her, disappearing into the throng of people who had reached the castle gates in their attempt to flee. Many expressed joy and relief upon seeing Elsa and Anna, but it turned to terror when they saw more Heartless following after them. Roxas and Elsa moved to attack, but Anna stepped in front of them both and held out her hands.

“Stand down!” she shouted at the throng of Heartless. “All of you will leave these people alone!” Roxas watched in awe as the Heartless seemed to obey her command. Was this because of her heart of pure light? Maybe she wasn’t the source of the corruption, but the solution to it?

“Anna…” Elsa said, shocked just as much as Roxas.

Kristoff looked ahead at Anna, but then turned to the panicked townspeople. “I’ll find Olaf and make sure everyone who has evacuated the city is safe! All of you do your thing!”

Roxas nodded to him, noting that he cut an impressive figure atop the moose. “You got it.” He summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion and rushed to Anna’s side. At her commands, the Heartless vanished into the light, and he and Elsa walked with her as she made her way through the city. Roxas had to dispatch some of the stronger ones that resisted Anna’s commands, but after a while her light overpowered even theirs.

Even so, it seemed to be tiring her out. “I’ve got to keep going,” Anna said after the first time she stumbled. Elsa rushed to her side, helping her along. “I’ve got to save as many people as I can. Too many have already fallen to them.”

And indeed they had. The city looked like it had seen a warzone as they came across soldiers who tried to fight back against them, but it was clear they had been overpowered and turned into Heartless themselves. Distant flashes of lightning and strong winds indicated that Elrena and Ven still fought, but the latter was nowhere to be seen.

Elrena reappeared atop a house, but the way she glared down at them made Roxas think she was here to fight again. “You idiot!” she shouted at Anna. “Stop what you’re doing!”

“No!” Anna said back to her. “It’s working. They’re obeying me.” Something about her demeanor seemed different to Roxas, however. She no longer faltered - she stood upright, her gaze cold.

Even Elsa seemed to notice. “Anna… something’s wrong.”   


“Nothing is wrong,” Anna replied. “I am stronger than they are.”

“You! Roxas!” Elrena shouted again, jumping down to jab a finger at him. “You sad excuse for a Keyblade wielder! You’re letting her control the light like that?”

He stepped back. “What do you mean? She’s a Princess of Heart!”

“You know what happens when someone tries to control the dark Heartless!” Elrena retorted. “They can get overcome by darkness! The same thing is happening here!”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “But she can’t be corrupted by it. Her heart is pure.”

“She’s immune to being corrupted by darkness, but she’s extra susceptible to light, you idiot!” Elrena slashed her Keyblade through the air. “The same thing would happen to you or me no matter which Heartless we try to control. We’re not Nobodies anymore, we can’t let her do that! It’s just gonna end up making the light stronger!”

“But I use light magic all the time,” said Roxas. “We all do!”

“Not like this!” Elrena argued back. “Not to control Heartless. Things are different now since the Second Keyblade War. You have to be careful with it! Don’t overdo it, balance it out with darkness! And definitely don’t do it when light Heartless are near unless you're prepared to fight back! The moment she shows any weakness they’ll get the jump on her.”

Anna pushed past them, unheeding of Elrena’s words - or perhaps not even hearing them. “I must help… the city…”

“She’s going to the fountain courtyard outside the castle,” said Elrena. “That’s where the keyhole is, I know it. All the Heartless are converging there to try to get to the heart of this world.”

Roxas grit his teeth and rushed up to Elsa, who was following after her sister with concern. “We have to stop her,” he said. “Before she falls too deeply into it!”

“She won’t listen to me,” said Elsa, her voice cracking. “It’s like she can’t even hear me. Her eyes… her eyes are glowing white. How do we stop this?” Roxas looked into Anna’s eyes, which stared straight ahead, not even seeing him. The whites of her eyes glowed with power.

“Elrena, do something!” Roxas urged her.

“I’m a little busy!” she retorted, fighting off the Heartless that tried to make their way to Anna. “You’re her friend! You’ll get through to her easier!”

Anna finally stopped at the fountain courtyard, where it seemed like over a hundred Heartless had gathered to claw their way to the world’s keyhole. Ven was here, slashing at them as much as he could, but even Roxas could see he was slowly tiring. He stepped to Ven’s side, helping him stand, and faced off against the Heartless together. Maybe if they could wipe them all out, Anna would stop, and they’d be okay.

Elsa had apparently come to the same conclusion, attacking all of the Heartless around her with impunity. Enormous ice formations formed around the fountain, spearing the Heartless and freezing them in place. She moved as if in a constant dance, frost flying from her fingertips with each motion. Even with as many as she defeated, it seemed like more took her place, and Roxas saw several dozen of them push past her icy assault and converge on her.

“ _ ELSA _ !” Anna shouted, her voice echoing. Light burst forth from her body, washing over the entire courtyard. Roxas shielded his eyes, but the Heartless seemed unaffected. If anything, they were drawn to her, sinking into the light she cast. They even abandoned Elsa, converging on Anna instead to the point where her entire form was shrouded in light.

“Anna, no!” Elsa shouted, holding a hand out to her sister.

Elrena, fighting on the other side of the courtyard, tried to blast the shroud of light with lightning. “Ugh! I knew this would happen!” A bolt of pure white light fired out from the shroud back at Elrena, which she narrowly dodged. It incinerated the castle wall behind her instead. 

The light coming from Anna seemed to dim just enough for them all to see her.

She rose above them, arms stretched wide, with angelic wings spread behind her. Her cloak billowed as she ascended and seemed to triple in height, her body and clothes clear as ice and reflecting light with all the colors of the rainbow. She was no longer human. She was…

“A Heartless,” Ven gasped.

“Anna!” Elsa cried. “Anna, what happened to you?”

“There’s no time to cry,” Elrena said, her voice harsh. She stood next to Roxas and Ven, all the other Heartless gone. “We have to defeat her. Before this whole world falls to light.”   


Ven looked to Roxas. “What… what do we do? We can’t hurt her!”

“This isn’t Anna anymore,” he said. It pained him to admit it, but if she had become a Heartless… “Elrena is right. We have to stop it before it goes for the keyhole. Can we expect the Unicorn to show up and help?”

“No,” she replied. “He left this world to me.”

“We have to do this on our own, then,” Roxas said. He looked to Elsa, who had fallen to her knees as she stared up at the Heartless, apparently in shock. “Just the three of us.”

“No…” Elsa said quietly, standing. “This isn’t Anna. I’ll help you. We’ll free her from this.”

The Heartless attacked, swiping at them with its long, crystalline hand. Elsa retaliated by sweeping at its feet with an icy wind while Elrena and Roxas slashed at the hand, repelling it. Ven jumped ahead to attack her torso, but it disappeared in a blink and reappeared on the other side of the courtyard, hands held together as if in prayer. A soft ringing elicited from its joined hands, which intensified into a piercing choir. Rainbow light shot out from its hands, its beams scorching everything it touched.

Elrena was just as fast as the Heartless, if not faster, and struck it with her lightning-imbued Keyblade. Its arm rose up to block the blow, but it shattered under the force, causing another harsh ringing to sound from its mouth. Its wings enclosed around it, and when it opened them again, the arm had reformed.

“Okay, so it can heal itself,” Elrena noted with annoyance. “Now what?”

“We go for the wings!” Roxas shouted, as Ven went to do just that. “Elsa, you have to help her. Only your heart should be able to reach hers.”

“My heart?” She erected an ice wall to protect Ven from its hand slamming down on him just in time. “But we were disconnected for so long… Almost our whole lives.”

“You’re sisters,” Ven shouted, as he and Elrena continued fighting. “Anna loves you. You can reach her!”

“Love can thaw a frozen heart,” Elsa said, clenching her fist in front of her with determination. “Anna taught me that once.”

Elrena disappeared in a flash of lightning, then reappeared above the Heartless, where she fell down on it and stabbed it from behind. It shrieked in pain, its wings flapping madly, but Roxas hurled both his Keyblades at each wing, pinning it to the castle wall. It shrieked again, kicking, but Ven struck it multiple times in the legs. A crack started appearing in its crystalline form where Elrena impaled it.

“Get ready for my Stormblade!” Elrena shouted, a wild grin on her face. Darkness and lightning erupted from her Keyblade, bleeding through the Heartless’ form. Sparks danced across its face as it looked up at the sky, its mouth wide open, and let out one final, piercing cry. Light started to rise from its body, like snowflakes, and Elsa approached.

“Anna… I need you to listen to me,” she said, her voice loud and clear. Even so, Roxas could tell it took everything she had to keep from breaking down and crying. “I’m here for you. I love you. I know you wanted to do everything you could to keep Arendelle safe, but you don’t have to do it alone. We have each other.”

Kristoff rode into the courtyard on Sven, jumping off of him and rushing to Elsa’s side. “What… what happened here? Is that…  _ How _ is that Anna?”

“Call out to her,” Roxas said. “Both of you.”

“She can hear you,” said Ven, clenching his fist. “I know it.”

Both Elsa and Kristoff approached her slowly. The cracks in the Heartless expanded as its chest moved up and down, as if breathing. It stopped thrashing, its hands falling limp. Elrena stepped in front of it, holding her Keyblade with both hands pointed at the Heartless.

“Now it’s my turn,” she said. A beam of darkness fired from the tip of her Keyblade, piercing the Heartless through the center of its torso. “This should do the trick.” The cracks spread even more from the point of impact until the entire Heartless shattered, its pieces fading into the light. Anna lay on the ground where it disappeared, completely unmoving.

Kristoff slid to the ground next to her, cradling her head in his lap. “Anna, Anna, please… don’t do this to me…” A walking snowman waddled up to them, but the gravity of the situation prevented Roxas from saying anything about the strange new arrival. Neither Kristoff nor Elsa reacted to it.

“Anna... “ the snowman spoke, shocking Roxas further.

Elsa was at her side a moment later, brushing her hair out of her face. “Anna, please, wake up!”

Roxas and Ven waited, their breath held. Roxas didn’t know what happened to people who recovered from being a Heartless. They waited more. Would she ever wake up? She was a Princess of Heart. It had to be different for her. They waited even longer. But she didn’t stir. “What’s wrong?” Roxas asked. “Why won’t she wake up?” Would she make a Nobody?

“She lost her heart,” Elrena replied, shrugging. She seemed wholly unconcerned. “I warned her. That’s a lot to recover from. She might not ever come back.”

“Her heart is asleep,” Ven said quietly. “Or maybe it went somewhere else to be safe.”

“Anyway, I gotta lock the keyhole,” Elrena said, turning to the fountain. She held her Keyblade forward again. “I need your help for this, guys. I’ve never done it before.”

Roxas and Ven both put the thought of Elrena’s apathy and Anna aside for the moment and pointed their Keyblades at the fountain, where a shimmering keyhole appeared above it. Elrena fired her beam of darkness at it, finally dismissing her Keyblade when it shimmered again, her job done. “Okay! That’s that.”

“Wait,” said Ven. A beam of light shot from his Keyblade, and the keyhole shimmered once more. “Okay, now this world’s heart is protected from both light and darkness.”

Elrena shrugged. “Not a terrible idea, I guess.” She glanced at Elsa and Kristoff, both with tears in their eyes, and Anna’s prone form. “Well… good luck with that. It’s been fun. Don’t do anything stupid again.” She stepped forward, opening up a Dark Corridor.

“What, you’re leaving?” Ven asked. “Just like that?”

Roxas crossed his arms. “Thank you,” he said. “For saving this world from the flood of light.”

She waved a hand at them dismissively. “Don’t thank me. The Foretellers wanted me to defeat both of you guys, but Elrena does what she wants. I’m tired of being manipulated after that whole Xehanort business. Even so, we’re probably gonna end up fighting again. Don’t get all buddy-buddy on me.”

Roxas nodded. “You got it.”

She vanished, and after she did so, Ven turned to Roxas. “I guess… I guess darkness ended up saving us, didn’t it?”

Roxas said nothing in reply to that, rushing over to Elsa and Kristoff. “I don’t know how to help her,” he said. He clenched his fist. “Her heart must be sleeping somewhere, and I don’t know how to wake it.”

Kristoff wiped his tears away. “So what do we do?”

“We’ll take her with us,” Ven said. “Aqua might know what to do.”

“I don’t know who you are,” said the snowman. “But Anna is very special to me. Please save her.”

Elsa stood. “Please… I’m going to trust you with this,” she said to Roxas, her tears falling freely. “Take care of my sister. Save her.”

“Your world is safe,” Roxas said. “And we’ll do everything we can to save her, too.”

Kristoff hesitantly passed Anna over to him, and he carried her, bridal-style. He thought of summoning his Keyblade armor to ride the pathways between worlds, but with Anna as a passenger, he decided another method of travel was better, even safer: the dark corridors.

For the first time since he gained a heart of his own, Roxas opened up the pathway through darkness again, disappearing into it with Ven following behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More on their different fighting styles: while Ven is fairly balanced but with high speed, Roxas has both high strength and speed, but is poorer with magic than some of the others.  
> Also, sorry if it's confusing to differentiate between Elsa and Elrena! I can't even count the number of times I read this and kept mistaking the two in my head and rereading it, just for their similar names. Imagine a scene with Ven, Sven, and Even together, eh?


	7. The Scottish Highlands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After encountering the Bear and the Serpent at Radiant Garden where Ansem the Wise was kidnapped, Kairi decides to go find him, unwilling to be left behind when all her other friends go off to different worlds. To her surprise, Isa and Naminé join her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... no kudos and no comments from last chapter. That was kind of disappointing and a bit upsetting... I really would like some feedback just so I know that people are reading.

Chapter 6. The Scottish Highlands

 

Aqua sat at the foot of Yen Sid’s tower, running her fingers through the grass as she thought about the events of the past few days. She hated that she was sitting here essentially doing nothing while her friends were all out combating the oppressive light in other worlds. Yen Sid tried to explain to her that, as the Master’s Successor, it was her job to support her team from the back lines, to strategize and orchestrate and ensure they had a plan and kept to it. She didn’t like that. She should be out there fighting on the front lines with them, not staying in the tower or growing old teaching the next generation of Keyblade wielders and nothing else.

 

Then again, she didn’t know what else she could do. Ven told her he didn’t need her help after she called him in worry. Terra was still keeping an eye on things at the Land of Departure. Ienzo and the others at Radiant Garden could use help defending the city from Heartless attacks, perhaps, but even he insisted that, for the moment, they had the situation under control. She felt stuck here chasing dead ends with Yen Sid and the three good fairies for the location of Ansem the Wise or the next of the New Seven Hearts.

 

She left the tower an hour before, claiming that she needed air. The grass felt cool, even comforting, to her fingers, and it helped her feel grounded when she felt herself getting overwhelmed. That happened more often these days, ever since her rescue from the Realm of Darkness. She still dreamed about it on the few occasions where she could get a full night’s rest, still saw dark Heartless where there were none, still sometimes had the feeling she was being watched or haunted by specters.

 

_ “You’re weak. You’re nothing. You’re going to grow old and waste away, cut off from the world like Yen Sid. You may as well retire like he did.” _

 

Aqua didn’t even need to look up at the source of the voice. She didn’t want to see the phantom of herself staring back at her, not with its glowing eyes and form shrouded in darkness.

 

She hugged her knees. “Go away,” she said to it. “I left you behind in the Realm of Darkness.”

 

_ “Did you?” _

 

No. She still saw it all the time, almost whenever she was alone. Sometimes not even then. But she couldn’t bear to tell the others about it, not when they were trying to relish in the happy moments they had together again.

 

_ “Why would you tell them? To burden them with your problems? They already have more than enough problems of their own,” _ the Phantom continued.  _ “Ven lost his heart, had his darkness extracted. Kairi and Riku lost Sora. Terra was a slave to Xehanort for all those years, forced to watch all the atrocities he was made to commit. You are nothing in comparison.” _

 

“Shut up!” She curled up even tighter. It would go away eventually. It had to.

 

* * *

 

“Were you intending to fly off without a plan? Or is this it?”

 

Kairi frowned in response to the question from the copilot’s seat of their gummi ship as Isa steered through the vastness of the Lanes Between. She was still surprised by the unlikely party they made, but it was better than being alone. “Hey, I’m just as much in the dark about where the Bear and Serpent took Ansem the Wise as you are.” He just grunted in response, so she turned to Naminé sitting behind them. “Naminé, do you have any ideas?”

 

Naminé smoothed out her skirt. Worn over a pair of shorts, and along with a new jacket, Naminé had prepared herself with a new outfit for the battles ahead. She still predominantly wore white, but there was some blue in her outfit as well, and Kairi loved the look on her. “Well… No, I don’t. But why don’t you let your heart guide the way?” She set aside her book full of drawings.

 

Kairi turned around fully, propping herself up on her knees and hanging over the back of her chair. “What do you mean?”

 

Naminé wrung her fingers together. “You-know-who used to let his heart guide the way through gates to other worlds. I saw it in his memories.”

 

Kairi sat back down in her chair. “Oh. Um… you can say his name, you know.” She wasn’t sure what hurt more - hearing Sora’s name, or the idea that everyone wanted to skirt around the subject in an effort not to hurt her feelings.

 

“I’m sorry,” said Naminé.

 

“Moving on,” said Isa. “You still have the ability to control his memories?”

 

“No, I don’t,” said Naminé, shaking her head. “I can no longer manipulate the chain of memories ever since I got my new body. I just remember some of the things he did. Xion does, too.”

 

Kairi made herself smile and she turned back to Naminé. “It’s okay. So, how do we do it?”

 

Naminé smiled back. “Okay! Follow my lead,” she said, standing up. Kairi stood up with her, and together they pointed their Keyblades out into the starry expanse ahead. “Now… let’s think about where we want to go, and why. Focus on the Bear. On Ansem.”

 

Kairi closed her eyes, thinking about the man in the bear mask. She didn’t like how powerless he made her feel, how easily he defeated all of them in Radiant Garden. She shifted her thoughts to Ansem, thinking that Naminé could probably connect to his heart much better than she could, but tried anyway. She tried pushing her thoughts and feelings about the Bear and Ansem into her Keyblade, Destiny’s Embrace, reaching deep into her heart. She knew she succeeded without opening her eyes after she heard the twinkle of magic ahead.

 

Isa sighed and shook his head. “Honestly, what can’t Keyblades do?”

 

Kairi leapt back into her chair, sticking her tongue out at him. “You’re just jealous ‘cause we all got them.” Naminé giggled as she got back into her chair.

 

He waved his hand at her dismissively. “Oh, no, don’t get me wrong. I’d rather not be bothered with one. They can’t be that special if they’re picking so many people.”

 

“Or maybe we just know a lot of special people,” Naminé pointed out.

 

Isa didn’t have an answer for that, so instead he grabbed the wheel. “Full speed ahead,” he said with a grunt.

 

* * *

 

The trio found themselves in an open clearing after landing in an old, dense forest with twisted, moss-covered trees. The ground was rocky with uneven terrain, and wet, which left them trudging through mud. It started raining, causing Kairi and Naminé to pull up their hoods.

 

“Where are we?” Naminé asked as they walked. The forest thickened as they progressed through it, the moss softening their footfalls.

 

“Dunno,” said Isa, tugging at his large collar. “Don’t see any bears or snakes either.”

 

“Or Ansem,” said Kairi, her shoulders falling. Did she open the wrong gate?

 

Naminé pointed ahead. “What are those lights?” she asked. Kairi looked to where she pointed, spotting dancing white lights appearing through the trees. She chased after them.

 

“Wait!” Isa called after her. All three of them ran after the lights, stopping once they found themselves in a clearing full of them. Kairi stared around them, entranced by the lights that seemed almost ghostly. They drifted through the air, making an ethereal sound that almost sounded like a cry. “What are these?”

 

“Will o’ the wisps,” said Naminé. “I’ve read about them in a book.” Before she could explain further, the will o’ the wisps started moving faster, as if agitated by something, and shone brighter.

 

“They don’t seem happy,” said Isa, drawing his claymore. He held it behind him, resting it on the ground, but Kairi knew it was a battle-ready stance.

 

One of the wisps flashed bright, casting a light spell at Naminé, but Kairi jumped in front of her and deflected the spell with her Keyblade. “These are light Heartless!” she exclaimed. How could she so foolishly follow them into a trap?

 

Naminé summoned her Keyblade as well. “Bravery,” she chanted, casting a spell over Kairi and Isa. Kairi felt her Keyblade get lighter and her muscles tighten. “And Focus,” she continued. At the casting of that spell, Kairi felt her mind clear, magic coming to her more easily.

 

Kairi led the attack, hurling her Keyblade at the nearest wisp and closing in on it before it could retaliate with more magic. She blasted it with magic, thankful for the spells Naminé learned from Aerith, which made Kairi feel stronger all around. She made quick work of the light Heartless around her, seeing that Isa did the same on the other side of the clearing. She started taking them down even faster when she transformed her Keyblade into a magic bow, shooting the wisps down easily. Naminé’s own strikes with her Keyblade were clumsy and infrequent, since she preferred to hang back and cast from a distance. Kairi figured her own attacks were largely the same when she first started out with her Keyblade, if not worse. Isa stayed near her, protecting her from most danger.

 

A rain of arrows from within the forest pelted more of the light Heartless, destroying them. Kairi turned to the source of the arrows, drawing back in surprise when a bear emerged and slashed at the Heartless with its claws, finishing off the last of them. After all the Heartless were gone, it let out a mighty roar and regarded them warily.

 

“I think your Keyblade found the wrong bear,” said Isa, smirking.

 

“Now’s not the time for jokes,” Kairi replied, a little nervous. “Since, y’know, there’s a bear in front of us that may or may not attack at any moment.”

 

“There’s an archer somewhere in the woods,” said Naminé. “Where are they?”

 

A hooded figure emerged into the clearing from behind the bear, bow drawn but lowered. “Stand down,” she said. “We’re not going to hurt you.” Kairi noted that she spoke with a strong accent, though it was one she’d never heard before. She looked up at Kairi and lowered her hood, unleashing a mane of wild red hair. “You can fight really well! And with a bow, to boot!”

 

The bear grunted.

 

Kairi smiled, dismissing her Keyblade after she deemed them as not a threat. “Thank you. Your shots were really accurate, too! I was standing right next to some of those.”

 

Naminé dismissed her alabaster white Keyblade as well, and Isa followed suit with his claymore. “Wow… is this your pet bear?” she asked, fascinated. “I’ve never seen one up close before.”

 

The girl glanced at the bear and grinned. “Aye,” she said, to which the bear gave something of an annoyed grunt. “This is my pet bear, Elinor. And my name’s Merida. We were following the will o’ the wisps until they attacked ye, but I didn’t know they could do that. They were pretty peaceful before.”

 

“These might not be the same will o’ the wisps you know,” said Kairi. “Those were creatures called Heartless.” The three of them introduced themselves. “Has, um, anything strange happened around here recently?”

 

Merida and Elinor glanced at each other again. “Yes, actually,” said Merida. “We were trying to find a witch. I’d hoped the wisps would lead us to her.”

 

Naminé frowned. “What sort of witch?”

 

“One who could break a spell for us,” she replied. “We have until the next sunrise.”

 

“Did she happen to be a girl wearing a serpent’s mask?” Isa asked.

 

Merida shook her head. “No, she was an old crone.”

 

He sighed. “Wrong witch, then. Let’s go.”

 

“Wait,” said Kairi. “We can’t just leave. There were Heartless here, and there’s probably more.”

 

“So?”

 

“So, we have to do our job as Keyblade wielders,” Kairi said, nodding along with Naminé. “Naminé’s got to learn from someone, so it may as well be me. Besides, helping them is what Sora would do.” She put her hand over her heart as she said Sora’s name, sure beyond a doubt about what he’d do.

 

“I agree,” said Naminé, smiling. “I’d love for this opportunity to learn from Kairi.”

 

He put a hand on his hip. “Oh, sure, it’s not like we have more important stuff to do, but this is fine. We have plenty of time for detours,” he said gruffly. He lowered his voice. “And I think Donald would say we shouldn’t meddle in another world’s affairs…”

 

“Look!” said Merida, pointing deeper into the forest. “There are more wisps!” Without another word, she ran after them, causing Elinor, Kairi, Isa, and Naminé to follow. She saw the tiny wisps, like blue flames this time, but they flickered and vanished, causing them to stop again. “Well… I guess we should head in this direction?”

 

“Seems as good of an idea as any,” said Kairi. “If it’s the only lead we have.” They all walked together, lowering their hoods when the rain stopped and they went deeper into the forest. “What spell are you trying to break, anyway?”

 

“It’s a long story,” said Merida. “But I originally went after the wisps to follow my fate.”

 

“To follow your fate?” Naminé asked. “What fate?”

 

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “But it’s said they can lead you to it. I was always afraid my fate would be to just marry some smelly lord and be his wife and sit inside sewing all day, and I met the witch to change that fate.”

 

“Change your fate…” Kairi said to herself. “Yeah, I don’t blame you.”

 

“I’m not sure something like fate can be changed so easily,” Merida continued. “But that’s why I’m going to meet the witch again. To break the spell and change my fate my way.”

 

“You could do it,” said Isa, whose encouraging tone surprised Kairi. “I thought my fate would be to fall to darkness, under someone else’s control. But with help, I changed it.”

 

Kairi stared down at the ground as they walked. Ever since the Keyblades first entered their lives, it was almost as if fate conspired to keep her and Sora apart. She lost her heart and her home, but when she found Sora again she ended up losing all of her memories of him. Then she was kidnapped and lost Sora, but even after she helped guide him back to the Realm of Light, he went off again to save the worlds, as he always did. She almost lost him to darkness after that, and then when he recovered she was off training. And after that, the Keyblade War, and Xehanort…

 

But he found her. And now he was gone again.

 

“I’ve got to change my fate, too,” she said to herself. She wasn’t going to be the one who had to be rescued anymore.

 

“I’d like to learn what mine even is,” Naminé said quietly. Kairi almost jumped, unaware that Naminé heard her.

 

More Heartless wisps appeared after that, and while they seemed to focus their attacks on Kairi and Naminé, they focused on Merida even more, but together they were able to fight them off without incident. After defeating them, Merida’s true will o’ the wisps appeared again and guided them ahead, and eventually they found themselves at the ruins of a crumbling castle.

 

“Did they want us to come here?” Kairi asked Merida. “Do you know this place?”

 

“I suppose they did,” she replied. “But I’ve never been here before.” Elinor the bear grumbled in agreement, tentatively leading the way up to the castle ruins - oddly, walking on her two hind feet. The others followed. Kairi wondered if the stonework would fall apart as they walked up the uneven steps, so she kept her steps light and careful. Eventually, they reached the top, realizing that the ruins of the castle stood on a cliffside overlooking the sea. Kairi thought it was beautiful, if hauntingly so, and eerily quiet.

 

“More wisps,” said Naminé. They blinked into existence all around them as they reached the top. “White ones.”

 

“Heartless,” said Kairi, drawing her Keyblade. Other types of Heartless appeared as well, more Paladins and even new ones that fired arrows from their hands, as well as tiny floating ones that held giant lances. The lancers divebombed them from above, but between the five of them they were able to take them down without much trouble. However, as soon as they did, shadow Heartless appeared, as if taking the place of their kin.

 

“What?” Kairi asked. “Dark Heartless now?”

 

“There’s some kind of darkness here,” said Naminé. “It’s surviving despite the light being here, too.”

 

“Either way, they’ve got to go,” said Isa, hefting his claymore. After they were gone, Isa dismissed his weapon. “This place is ancient. I’m surprised it’s even still standing as much as it is.”

 

Merida looked around. “Whoever they were they’ve been gone for a long, long time.” At her last word, the floor crumbled underneath her, causing both her and Kairi to fall. They landed, hard, but Kairi brushed herself off as she stood up, shaken but unharmed. She helped Merida stand.

 

“Oh no!” Naminé called down to them. “Are you okay?”

 

“We’re fine,” said Kairi. They found themselves in a dark room, the only light coming from the hole they made in the ceiling. She saw three enormous stone chairs at the top of a short staircase, leading them to surmise that they had found themselves in the throne room.

 

“D’ye think this is the castle from the story you told me?” Merida wondered aloud, to which Elinor growled in response from up above.

 

“The story who told you?” Kairi asked.

 

“Eh… nothing,” Merida said hurriedly. She examined a stone slab carved with the images of three princely men, with a fourth cut away into his own cracked piece. “It’s them, though. The four princes!” She drew back. “It’s split, like the tapestry… the spell, it’s happened before!”

 

“Which spell, Merida?” Kairi asked her. “What happened with the witch you met?”

 

Merida looked at her, though she seemed out of breath. “The bear… she’s my mum.”

 

Up above, Isa coughed. “Wait… does that mean you’re a bear that turned into a human?”

 

Kairi, Naminé, and Merida all stared at him. “No…” Naminé said, holding back laughter. “I don’t think that’s the case.”

 

He averted his eyes, sinking deeper into his high collar so that they only saw the top of his head and crossing his arms. “Oh. Never mind. I got it. Human turned into bear.”

 

Elinor the bear grumbled. Kairi looked up at her in a new light, surprised that she didn’t figure it out before. “We’ll help you turn her back,” she said. 

 

“I think… I think the prince became the bear,” said Merida, gasping. “He changed his fate. And became Mor’du!”

 

“He let darkness overcome him,” a voice spoke from the shadows. Kairi and Merida turned to it, weapons drawn, and Kairi took a fighting stance as soon as she recognized the robes and the man in the bear mask. “He’s holding onto the only darkness left in this world that has survived your flood of light.”

 

Kairi furrowed her brow. “Don’t call it ‘our’ flood of light,” she said. “We didn’t cause this to happen.”

 

“You’re wrong,” he said in a voice so low it almost sounded like a growl. “And now you’re siding with one of the New Seven Hearts again,” he said, pointing at Merida. “I came here for her, too.”

 

“What did you call me?” Merida asked.

 

Kairi gripped her Keyblade tightly. “We didn’t know,” she said. “But now we know we need to protect her from you, don’t we?”

 

“Shouldn’t you worry about yourself first?” The Bear drew his Keyblade. “According to Lauriam, you were one of the first Princesses of Heart. I have reason to believe you’re a greater threat to the worlds as well, especially if you retained your pure heart.”

 

Isa and Naminé jumped down, weapons drawn, and stood at Kairi’s side. “We won’t let you harm her,” said Naminé. “Either of them.”

 

“The witch and the former Organization dog,” said the Bear. “Playing at wielding the light. I heard all about you, too. You’ve both chosen the wrong side.”

 

“What’s going on?” Merida asked. “Worlds? Witch? Princesses?”

 

“Tell us who you are,” said Kairi.

 

“And what you’ve done with Ansem,” said Isa.

 

The Bear stepped aside into the shadows again. “Someone who’s come to understand darkness for what it is. My name is Aced, one of the Foretellers. Used to be one of the strongest Keyblade Masters out there. Fought in the First Keyblade War. You have no chance against me.”

 

Kairi moved to go after him, but Isa held out a hand and stopped her. A deep growl issued from the shadows and a bear with a horribly scarred face emerged, roaring at them.

 

“Mor’du!” Merida cried, shooting it with an arrow. It sunk into the bear’s fur, but it barely seemed to notice.

 

“But I’ll fight you together with this creature that has fallen to darkness,” said Aced. “Just in case.”

 

Mor’du lunged at Merida, but she scrambled away just in time. Darkness covered its form, so Kairi hurled a spell at it to cover it in a pillar of light. It shrugged off the blow, roaring again, and Kairi saw the countless weapons that had been stabbed into its hide over the years and kept there, minor annoyances to a monster this big. Naminé layered them with protection spells, but Mor’du changed targets to her instead. Isa put himself between them just in time, catching its teeth with his claymore. It batted him aside with its claws, hurling him into the stone slab of the four princes.

 

“Isa!” Kairi cried out. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

 

Naminé nodded, throwing a healing spell Isa’s way and casting another spell over the four of them to increase their speed. Aced stomped toward her, sending shockwaves through the earth with each step, but Kairi cast a magnet spell at him to pull him away before he could reach Naminé. She ducked under his wide, heavy blows he aimed at her in retaliation, lighting him up with another Pearl spell.

 

Merida scrambled away from Mor’du, managing to climb up out of the throne room with Elinor’s help. Kairi slashed at Aced with all of her strength, peppering him with hits from as many directions as she could, but he roared and slammed his Keyblade into the ground, sending her flying with a quake spell.

 

“Float!” Naminé yelled, diving away from Aced’s attack aimed at her. She jumped into a glide, speeding away from him and up through the hole in the ceiling.

 

Kairi righted herself in midair, thankful for the flight spell, and followed after Naminé. She made sure Isa got up and followed as well, dodging through the Foreteller’s attack just as Elinor pushed over a stone wall onto him and Mor’du. After they got back out, Kairi, Isa, and Naminé floated gently to the ground as the magic wore off, but the exertion of the spell had Naminé doubled over, panting.

 

“Did that get him?” she asked between breaths. The black bear’s fearsome maw appeared first from the hole, roaring at them again, and Aced leapt up from behind it with his Keyblade arm held high. He slashed at Naminé before any of them could react, who barely managed to block the attack with her Keyblade just in time, but the force of it sent her careening into the ruined wall behind her. She fell to the ground, unmoving.

 

“Naminé!” Kairi shouted in concern. She turned to Isa. “We have to run!” Mor’du seemed as if he struggled to pull himself out of the throne room, leaving only Aced as their opponent.

 

Merida leapt onto her mother’s back and scooped up Naminé as they sprinted past, draping her over Elinor’s back. Isa swung his claymore at Aced, but the larger man blocked his blow one-handed. “You don’t stand a chance without a Keyblade,” Aced said with a grunt, forcing his way through the block and hurling Isa back.

 

Landing painfully against the same wall Naminé did, Isa clutched his side in pain. “No,” he said. “But that was just to distract you from someone who does wield one.”

 

Kairi stood with arms outstretched, calling together all the magic power she could muster. “Aeroga!” The winds buffeted Aced, who struggled against the force of the spell, but Kairi pushed harder. His feet slid back against the ground and he crossed his arms to ward himself from the spell, but as soon as he tried to move one step the winds lifted him up and hurled him off of the cliffside.

 

Kairi let the spell fall, panting, but the sound of Mor’du’s struggling roars pushed her into action. She pulled Isa to a standing position and together they ran after Merida, her legs burning with the exertion. They ran through the fog as the sun was setting, meeting them in a stone circle. Kairi and Isa stepped through the circle, staring up at the stone monoliths. She had the feeling that they were watching them back, like sentinels.

 

“Are you alright?” Merida asked them. She was knelt at Naminé’s side, who was on the ground, but stirring. 

 

Kairi helped her stand, finally judging them to be safe for the moment and catching her breath. “Yes, we’re okay,” said Naminé, looking over her friends.

 

“We have to go back home, to the castle!” Merida said to Elinor. “Mum, don’t you remember what the witch said? We have to repair the tapestry, repair the bonds torn by pride!”

 

“A tapestry?” Isa asked. “That’ll break the spell on your mother?”

 

“It’s got to!” Merida replied, to which Elinor replied with concerned grunts. “I ripped it when we were fighting. I know that’ll fix this. We’ve only got until sunrise, otherwise my mum will be stuck as a bear forever. Like Mor’du.”

 

Shadows formed outside the ring of stones, causing both Kairi and Naminé to draw their Keyblades again with tired sighs. “More dark Heartless?” Naminé asked.

 

“Drawn to the darkness growing inside Elinor,” Kairi realized. “If she’s becoming like Mor’du…”

 

“We don’t have time,” said Isa.

 

Kairi turned to Merida. “Merida, you go with your mom to the castle and fix that tapestry! We’ll handle the Heartless here!”

 

She nodded, jumping on the bear’s back and riding off. “Thank you!”

 

Kairi, Naminé, and Isa turned their backs to each other as the Heartless closed in. “So that man, Aced, is somehow one of the Foretellers,” said Kairi. “If he’s telling the truth.”

 

“Living in the present day,” said Isa.

 

“He mentioned the name Lauriam,” said Naminé. “Does that ring any bells, Isa?”

 

“Marluxia,” was all he gave in reply. He slashed at one of the shadows that crept too close.

 

“And Merida is another of the New Seven Hearts,” said Kairi. “So we know of… five?” She swatted one out of the air as it leapt at them.

 

“In theory,” said Isa. “We have to go on the attack. Before they close in on us.”

 

Naminé rushed forward first, slashing at the shadows with a shout, and the battle began. Kairi wasn’t sure how to feel about the presence of the dark Heartless as they fought, but she was glad they were easier to fight than light Heartless with the type of Keyblade she had. Even so, the fight dragged on longer than it should have due to their tiredness. The fact that the night was getting later didn’t help matters.

 

They fought and fought, and soon enough even light Heartless joined the fray. Wisps battled with shadows, their natures clashing, but that didn’t make the battle any easier for Kairi, Naminé, and Isa. Kairi helped Naminé keep the three of them healed, but even with the burden shared they were all quickly getting weary.

 

“It’s okay,” Naminé said between blows, panting. “This is… practical training.”

 

Kairi smiled. Her arms and legs burned, but she kept on the attack. “Should we leave these and go find Merida’s castle?” Kairi asked them. “It doesn’t seem like these Heartless are going anywhere!”

 

“Probably a good idea,” said Isa, hefting his claymore. “Run. Hopefully the castle isn’t already overrun by the light because of Merida’s presence.” Kairi frowned - that would explain why she took so long to return. Or perhaps her mother was already transformed back, and they were enjoying their time together back at their home.

 

She spotted the light of torches riding toward them and heard the distant sound of hoofs beating against the ground. As they got closer, Kairi realized Elinor was leading the charge, still in bear form. When she rushed into the stone circle, she further realized that Elinor was being pursued by the men on horseback, hounds nipping at her.

 

Things didn’t go well at the castle, apparently. For one horrible moment, Kairi thought that Elinor was overcome by the bear and the darkness inside of her, but she saw real, human fear in her eyes.

 

The men on horses surrounded them, throwing ropes over Elinor and shouting, barely noticing Kairi and the others or the Heartless all around them. Elinor fought against her bindings, but the men overpowered her. The dark Heartless grew in number.

 

“Wait, stop!” Kairi shouted at them. “That’s not a bear!”

 

“What do ye mean, girl?” one of the men shouted back. “Of course it is!” Isa went up to the men and started pulling them away, hurling them into the grass.

 

One man, the largest of them, approached Elinor with his sword held over his head, ready to bring it down on her. Kairi shouted again, but an arrow shot at the sword and knocked it from the man’s hands.

 

“Dad, don’t do it! That’s mum!” Merida shouted, arriving on horseback with her bow drawn. She dismounted and stood between him and Elinor.

 

“No it isn’t!” he said, pushing her aside. Kairi could see in his eyes that he was intent only on killing the bear in front of him, not realizing that it was his wife. She was about to run forward to stop him, but Merida beat her to it, blocking his blow with a stolen sword. “Merida, what are ye doing?!”

 

The two engaged in battle, but Merida swept the sword under his prosthetic leg and knocked him to the ground. Before they could say anything else, they heard the roar of another bear - Mor’du had returned.

 

“It’s Mor’du! Attack!” Merida’s father yelled. The other men rushed forward with their weapons, but the monstrous bear swept them aside easily, even Merida’s father. Kairi and Isa moved to block its path, but it threw itself at Merida, knocking her to the ground and roaring in her face. Just as its maw moved to her face, Elinor broke free of her bindings and brutally attacked it.

 

As the two bears engaged in battle, Kairi fought off the dark and light Heartless that both went to attack the other men, but just as she did so, Aced returned and attacked her. She managed to block his Keyblade just in time, her arms shuddering from the force of his blow. She jumped backward. “Aced!” she shouted. Naminé stepped beside her, ready to support Kairi with magic.

 

“You’re a powerful mage, girl,” he said. “I won’t underestimate you again.”

 

Behind Kairi, the two bears continued their fierce battle, with Merida and Isa stepping in to help Elinor. The darkness surged around Mor’du and Elinor both, drawing the shadows to them.

 

Kairi glared at Aced. “Because of you, Merida’s mother is falling to the darkness.”

 

“Because of you, this whole world is falling to light!” he replied.

 

Mor’du knocked Elinor aside and slashed at Isa, who just barely managed to block it with his claymore. The darkness in Mor’du flared up, its eyes glowing yellow. Isa grit his teeth, summoning all his strength to push the monster back, but the darkness enveloped his claymore, shattering it. He was knocked back into the stone circle, hitting it hard. “Mor’du became… a Heartless!” he grunted.

 

“Isa!” Naminé shouted, but Aced commanded both her and Kairi’s attention.

 

Mor’du closed in on Isa again with vicious fervor, but Isa managed to stand and raise his hand. Silver light glinted above his open palm, where a Keyblade of white, black, and purple formed, its teeth like two crescent moons. Isa slashed at Mor’du with the new Keyblade, sending it flying back where Elinor and Merida continued their attack.

 

Isa stared at the Keyblade in his hand. “Ugh, really? I get one, too?”

 

“A new wielder of the light,” said Aced. “Your strength just keeps growing. And yet you still claim you are not at fault here!”

 

“Our strength comes from our friends, not any light or darkness,” said Kairi, putting a hand over her heart. “Our hearts are connected, united as one. And we’ll keep fighting against those who try to break us!”

 

The light Heartless attacked Aced, distracting him. The wisps surrounded him, glowing with magic, so Kairi took the opportunity to help Elinor and Merida against Mor’du. All three Keyblade wielders turned against the bear Heartless, which grew in size. Kairi changed her Keyblade into a bow and stood beside Merida, both of them firing their arrows at it while Isa slashed with his larger Keyblade and Naminé cast attack spells. Kairi’s arrows, charged with light magic, pierced through the darkness shrouding it, allowing Elinor to lumber up and slam Mor’du against the stone monolith repeatedly, causing cracks to appear in the rock. It pushed her back, knocking her to the ground, and lunged after her. Before it reached Elinor, the stone monolith broke and fell, crushing Mor’du beneath it.

 

A blue will o’ the wisp rose up from the stone, taking the form of a spectral man, who nodded at Merida once before vanishing. Merida looked at him, stunned, then over the horizon just as the sun was starting to peek over it.

 

“The second sunrise!” she exclaimed, rushing over to her horse and grabbing her tapestry. She laid it over her mother, but nothing happened. “What? Why won’t it work?”

 

“She’s already fallen too far into the darkness,” Aced said, warding off the light Heartless. “And I need that darkness to save this world! Give me that tapestry!”

 

“Save this world? How?” Naminé asked, brows furrowed in anger. “She’s trying to save her mother!” She stepped in front of him, blocking his path with her Keyblade, but he knocked her aside. She threw a wind spell at him, but he defended himself with his Keyblade.

 

“Not falling for that one again,” said Aced.

 

“What about this, then?” Isa asked, assaulting him with his Keyblade, which was almost as large as Aced’s own.

 

The sun cast its light upon the stone circle, but still Elinor was a bear. The men and Merida’s father all fought both types of Heartless all around them, to little effect. “Mum, I did this to you,” said Merida, tears falling from her eyes. “I’m so, so sorry…”

 

“She has to hear it from your heart,” Kairi said to Merida. “I know she will!” She shot her arrows at Aced, but he managed to deflect all but one, which made him yelp in pain.

 

“This is all my fault,” Merida continued. “I need you, Mum. I love you.” She shone with light, pure and radiant, which covered both her and Elinor.

 

“No!” Aced shouted. “The light is getting too powerful!” As he said those words, the light Heartless overpowered the dark, wisps dancing all around the stone circle. “I’ve got to lock this world’s keyhole before it falls to light.”

 

As he said those words, he pointed his Keyblade at the center of the stone circle, where a keyhole appeared. Its golden glow bathed the stone circle, but before Aced could lock it more Heartless converged on him. He slashed them aside, but more lights assaulted him. He shouted out in anger. All of the men except for Merida’s father and three little bear cubs fled into the forest, escaping the Heartless horde.

 

The sun had fully risen. Kairi, Isa, and Naminé fought off the light Heartless that were attacking Aced, but with the keyhole present they were almost rabid. The lights merged together, becoming stronger and stronger. “They’re… being empowered,” Naminé said, gasping. “By Merida!”

 

Merida hugged Elinor, who by this point had finally transformed back into a woman. They both cried, but Elinor stood up, realizing the situation around them. She wrapped the tapestry around herself, with Merida and her father flanking her to protect her from the light Heartless. “What is happening?” Elinor asked. The bear cubs had transformed into three naked little boys who rushed to her arms, where she shielded them protectively.

 

Another light flashed over the horizon, this time brighter than the sun. It was searing white, causing everyone to hide their eyes. “We’ve failed,” Aced said, his voice oddly quiet. “ _ I’ve _ failed.” He opened a dark corridor, but before he departed he turned to Kairi. “This world is done for. Wiped out by the light. Unlike when a world falls to darkness, not even a trace is left behind. Just a white void. Light Heartless. You should leave.” He disappeared into the darkness before she could reply.

 

“No!” she cried. “What do we do?”

 

“I’ll open a corridor back to the gummi ship,” said Isa. “It’s our only chance. Merida, your light has to protect your family on the way… It’s a short distance, but it’s still dangerous for them.” She nodded and he did so, ushering Merida and her family in with them, all of which looked bewildered more than anything. Naminé jumped in after them, and Kairi followed last. The last thing she saw before disappearing into the darkness was the white light washing over everything, obliterating the forest and the stones and even the light of the sun.

 

She had failed. Again.

 

* * *

 

_ Who are you? _

 

A white void. It seemed almost familiar to her. “Naminé. I… feel like I’ve been here before.” She felt more tired than she ever had in her short life, and wanted nothing more than to give in to sleep.

 

_ You have. But… who are you? _

 

“I think… I think you know. And… I don’t know how, but I know you, too.”

 

_ Do you? _

 

“I know it. You’re that boy.”

 

_ Maybe. You sound so sure. I don’t even know. _

 

“If you say so.”

 

_ But you’re not sure of who you are, are you? You’re lost… aimless. Desperate to be with your friends but unsure of how to do it. You’re used to being alone. Isolated. It makes me really sad. _

 

“Maybe so.”

 

_ You’ve done bad things. _

 

“Many.”

 

_ Hurt people. _

 

“I have. People who have become important to me now.” But for some reason, she couldn’t remember their names. Right now, she couldn’t remember any names besides her own.

 

_ It’s okay. Don’t cry. _

 

* * *

 

_ Who are you? _

 

He found himself in a white void. Suddenly aware that he had a body, he tried to turn to the voice, but wasn’t sure if he was moving or not. “I’m Isa.”

 

_ Isa? Or Saïx? _

 

“Both… I guess.” The voice belonged to an older man, raspy and gravelly.

 

_ Or Isa trying to run away from Saïx. But you cannot run from the sins you committed. They’ll be with you, perhaps forever. As will mine. _

 

“Then I’ll be atoning forever.”

 

_ Can you, without your best friend at your side? _

 

“My best friend is at my side. Our hearts are connected.”

 

_ Is his connected to yours? Or to his two other friends, ones who have replaced you? _

 

“Who are you? I am annoyed with this conversation.”

 

_ I do not want to make you angry. I’ve seen what that is like. _

 

“Then don’t.”

 

_ Would you prefer to be forgotten? _

 

“No. That is worse than death.”

 

_ And yet you helped to give that fate to another. _

 

“I know. I haven’t forgotten.” He paused. “There are lots of things I haven’t forgotten. The girl.”

 

_ It’s been years. Maybe she’s forgotten you. _

 

* * *

 

_ Who are you? _

 

She found herself in a white void. “My name… is Kairi.” Her voice came out slurred. If she had limbs, they would be sluggish, but she wasn’t sure if she had them or not. “What’s your name?”

 

_ If I told you, you’d forget. I’m probably going to forget yours. _

 

“Try me. I promise I won’t.” The voice belonged to a girl, but no one she knew.

 

_ Tell me who you are first. Not just your name. _

 

“A Princess of Heart, supposedly. My heart is pure light.”

 

_ Is it? Is that who you are? _

 

“I don’t know anymore.”

 

_ Why? _

 

“Sometimes… it feels like the light has gone from my life.”

 

_ That sounds really sad. I’m sorry. Why is that? _

 

“I lost someone. And I’ve never felt weaker. More in need of being rescued. I can’t do anything on my own.”

 

_ No one can. It’s important to have people to support you. _

 

“I’ve relied on others too much.”

 

_ And they probably want you to. _

 

“If you say so. Can you tell me who you are yet?”

 

_ It’s been so long since I’ve said my name. My heart has left my body, my feelings have reached across time and space. I’ve been fighting for so long. I… I had a vessel, but I don’t know what happened to it... _

 

“Let me hear it.”

 

_ I think… I think my name is… _

 

_...Ava. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Isa's got a Keyblade now too! Don't worry, he's the last one, I swear!
> 
> In terms of gameplay, Isa is probably the physically strongest out of all of them, but also the slowest and probably even the weakest at magic. On the other side of the spectrum, Naminé is almost purely magic based, with the strongest and most varied spells.
> 
> Can I ask again for some kind of commentary just so I know people are reading?


	8. Disney Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axel finds himself stuck in Twilight Town looking after the three newest Keyblade wielders - Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Unsure of what to do with their surprising ability to wield Keyblades of Darkness, he eventually settles on bringing them to be looked after by Terra in the Land of Departure.

Chapter 7. Disney Castle

 

Axel sat on the grungy, sagging couch in the place Hayner, Pence, and Olette dubbed “the Usual Spot,” staring at the three of them with a perplexed expression on his face. All three stared back; Hayner with eagerness in his eyes, Pence with equal perplexity, and Olette with something that looked like discomfort.

 

All three had somehow managed to summon Keyblades of Darkness. As far as Axel was aware, only one of those existed, and that was found  _ in  _ the Realm of Darkness. And it was currently being wielded by King Mickey, but no one knew where he was. Though he supposed it was likely that the Bear, Serpent, Unicorn, and Larxene - Elrena, rather - wielded Keyblades of Darkness as well.

 

“Are you… going to keep staring at us?” Olette asked after a while.

 

“Yeah, c’mon, let’s go to other worlds!” Hayner exclaimed. “I wanna kick Heartless butt again! You need me, right? ‘Cause our Keyblades are better against these new light Heartless?”

 

Axel dragged a hand down his face. “No, gimme a minute. I’m trying to figure out what to do,” he said. He remembered when neither of them knew about anything beyond Twilight Town. Simpler times. Roxas wanted to bring them along for the party at the Destiny Islands six months previous, and the King consented. “I’m still trying to figure out why you guys got those.”

 

“Me too,” said Pence. “It’s kind of weird, isn’t it? Why would the Realm of Darkness choose us to wield these? We don’t even live there.”

 

Olette joined her hands together. “It doesn’t make us… evil or anything, does it?”

 

Axel shook his head. “Nah, the King wields one, too.”

 

She let out a breath of relief at that. “Oh, good.”

 

Axel groaned. He’d done enough thinking about all this. He was a little worried about Ven and Roxas after they disappeared into that dark corridor with Elrena and the Unicorn, but he heard back from Aqua that they were okay. After that, he updated her on the situation with their newest Keyblade wielders, wondering if he should take them to Terra in the Land of Departure. Aqua, however, wasn’t sure if that was the best course of action yet. But that was a day ago.

 

He went through his gummiphone, his fingers hesitating over King Mickey’s contact information. No one had heard from him, Donald, or Goofy in months, but Axel wondered if the King would know what to do. Instead, he decided to just message the group chat again.

 

_ Axel _

_ >Hey, everyone good? What’s going on? _

 

No answer. He tried to tell himself that everyone was busy. That he should sit, wait, and be patient.

 

But that wasn’t Axel’s style.

 

He stood up and groaned. “I’m so over sitting here doing nothing! I’m about ready to go off and find Roxas and Ven myself.”

 

Hayner jumped up. “Ooh, bring me!”

 

Axel was about to decline, but he got a message in the group chat.

 

_ Aqua _

_ >I’m fine, how are things there? I finally got a hold of Terra - he couldn’t figure out how to type back - and he said things are okay there. I think your best bet is to bring Hayner, Pence, and Olette to him. _

 

_ Axel _

_ >Finally. Thanks! _

 

Grinning, he turned to the three shorter teens. “Alright, new plan. How do you guys feel about comin’ through a dark corridor? My clothes protect me from the darkness, but your Keyblades should do the trick for protecting you three. Just, uh…make sure your hearts don’t falter, just in case.”

 

Hayner pumped a fist into the air. “All right! Where to?”

 

He pointed ahead, darkness swirling into a portal in the corner of the room. “The Land of Departure. Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

True to Terra’s word, everything was fine at the Land of Departure when Axel, Hayner, Pence, and Olette emerged from the dark corridor.

 

Pence looked back at the dark portal as it closed. “Will we, uh, have to use those once we get better at using our Keyblades? I kinda didn’t like that.”

 

“Oh, yeah,” said Axel, waving a hand at him as he walked toward the castle. “Exclusively. You’ll also have to say dark things. And eat dark food. And stay up all night. And wear all black clothes. Y’know, dark Keyblade things.”

 

Hayner frowned. “You almost had me until the wearing all black bit,” he said. “You wear black all the time even with your Keyblade of Light.”

 

Olette and Pence laughed as Axel led them inside. All three stopped to admire the high, vaulted ceilings, but the pristine halls Axel remembered weren’t so pristine anymore. Old shoes littered the hall, scattered all around, along with papers and random clothes and keychains. A student rushed by, barely giving them a glance, but before Axel could ask where Terra was another one pushed past them, chasing after the first kid.

 

“Hey!” Axel called. “Jeez, I guess Terra’s got his hands full…”

 

They walked ahead to the audience chamber, where they found Terra struggling to discipline two arguing teenagers with their Keyblades out. More than anything, Axel noted how tired he looked.

 

“C’mon, I said no fighting with those unless it’s for practice,” he was telling them. “You’re not supposed to whip out your Keyblade for every little argument!”

 

“She started it!” one of the girls said, pointing to the other.

 

“You tried to say you were stronger than me!” the other shot back.

 

The first one stuck her tongue out at her. “That’s ‘cause I am!”

 

“That’s not the way to solve this,” Terra said, trying to placate them. “You two gotta realize you’re friends, and use each other for your strength.”

 

“We’re not friends!”

 

“Ew! No way!”

 

Olette looked around at the chaos and the mess in the audience chamber, which looked even worse than the entrance hall, and strode up to the arguing girls. She put her hands on her hips. “Hey! You two better cool your heads. If you don’t have anything nice to say to each other, you’re gonna have to answer to me and  _ my  _ Keyblade.” She paused as they stared up with her with scared expressions. “Got it?  _ And _ I’m not afraid to tell Master Aqua.” Axel was glad he was standing behind Olette, because even Terra quailed a bit under her gaze.

 

Both straightened their poses and dismissed their Keyblades. “Uh, yes Miss…”

 

“Olette,” she said.

 

“Miss Olette!” 

 

“And get the other kids to help you clean up this mess,” she continued. “It’s filthy in here.”

 

As the younger teenagers ran off, Hayner turned to Pence and Axel, sniggering. “Ooh, there’s Olette’s stern side coming out. Glad it’s not aimed at me for once.”

 

“Wow,” said Terra, clearly impressed. “That was something. Thanks for the help. I think you reminded them of Aqua.”

 

Olette beamed at him, all coldness gone. “You got it! Honestly, I’m glad they fell for my bluff. They may be younger but they’ve had their Keyblades longer than me, so I’m not sure if I could  _ actually  _ beat them…”

 

Terra nodded in greeting to Axel, Hayner, and Pence. “I heard about the Keyblades you three summoned. I’m glad you came.”

 

Hayner grinned. “Of course! I can’t wait to learn how to use this like Roxas so I can beat him in a fight. Think I could learn to use two like he does?”

 

Olette turned on him. “Didn’t you just listen to that whole thing?”

 

Hayner stepped back, his hands put up in surrender. “Uh… Right!”

 

Terra turned to Axel. “Axel, now that you’re here, I’m gonna need you to keep an eye on things. I need to get out there.”

 

He scratched the back of his head. “Uh, me? No way. Why do you need to leave?”

 

Terra crossed his arms and averted his eyes. “I’m tired of sitting around here doing nothing.” He looked back up at Axel. “Listen, I think I’m gonna go try to find the King.”

 

Axel put a hand on his hip. “Yeah… Honestly, I had the same idea. I don’t think he was expecting any of this stuff to happen. We need him, don’t we?”

 

Terra looked surprise, perhaps expecting Axel to disagree. “Great! So… I’m gonna head to Disney Castle and see if I can find any leads, you can stay here and watch all the kids.”

 

“Me? On babysitting duty?” Axel asked him, incredulous. “You’ve gotta be kidding.”

 

“Well I can’t leave the kids without any supervision!” Terra protested. “Aqua would kill me.”

 

Both of them looked at Olette, Hayner, and Pence.

 

“What? Us?” Pence asked.

 

“Aww, c’mon! I wanna go with you guys!” Hayner protested.

 

Olette simply sighed. “Go on. We’ll look after things here.”

 

“Here, take my gummiphone,” said Terra, fishing it out of his pocket and handing it to Pence. “Give Axel a call if there’s any trouble. I’m sure you can figure out how it works.”

 

Pence grinned. “I always wanted one of these things ever since I saw Roxas had one!”

 

“Keyblade club perks,” Axel said. He turned to Terra. “Alright, then. Let’s go!”

 

* * *

 

“So, Ven said those guys are apparently the Foretellers?” Terra asked Axel as they flew in the Land of Departure’s very own gummi ship. With Terra at the pilot’s seat, they were making good time to Disney Castle.

 

“According to Aqua, yeah.”

 

“But… in the stories about them, didn’t they fight over light? I get that their actions led to the First Keyblade War, but before all that they were good people, weren’t they?”

 

A high-pitched voice came from behind them. “The Foretellers were all Keyblade Masters who believed in and loved the light.” Terra and Axel whirled around to see a plush cat creature emerge from the cabin. “Why did you two wanna leave me behind? Ven already made me stay!”

 

Axel wondered if the creature, whatever it was, was about to cry. It certainly looked like it. “Uh… This that Chirithy I heard about?”   
  


“Yeah,” Terra told him. “Sorry, Chirithy. I figured it’d be dangerous.”

 

“I helped Ven and the other Dandelions survive the Keyblade War!” he exclaimed. “It can’t get more dangerous than that!”

 

“I’m sorry,” Terra repeated, his voice sincere. “I should have known to ask you for help first, since you know all about them.”

 

Chirithy walked up and sat on the arm of Terra’s chair, crossing his arms. “Hmph!”

 

“So if they loved the light, why did they turn to the side of darkness?” Axel asked. “And how come they’re working with someone like Elrena?”

 

Chirithy jumped up and turned to Axel. “Elrena? Oh, I remember her now! Yeah, she was one of the Dandelions! She must have made it to this time the same way Ven did!”

 

Axel crossed his arms, thinking. “So she was a Dandelion too? Hard to believe. Guess that makes her an old hag.”

 

“But as to why they’re siding with darkness?” Chirithy continued with a chirp. “I don’t know… Maybe it’s in response to the light going out of control.”

 

“An effort to maintain balance,” said Terra, looking down. “But I would never turn to darkness like that. Never again. It’s one thing to accept the darkness in me, but I wouldn’t do what they’re doing.”

 

“Agreed,” said Axel. His time in the Organization was far more darkness than he ever wanted, that was for sure.

 

They landed the ship in the castle’s gummi hangar not long after, emerging into the castle courtyard. Both of them summoned their Keyblades immediately upon seeing the courtyard overrun with light Heartless.

 

“Ugh, here, too?” Axel asked. He blasted the Wisps with fire magic and transformed Flame Liberator into a pair of chakrams to hurl at several others.

 

“So these are light Heartless!” Terra exclaimed, dispatching them with an Earthshaker wreathed in darkness. “Let’s go find the Queen!”

 

“This way!” Axel shouted, heading to the colonnade. He had been here before, even saved Minnie from the likes of Maleficent and Pete. He could do it again. Knowing that it was likely they’d be in the Audience Chamber, which was easily defendable, he went there first, Terra and Chirithy right behind him.

 

The amount of light Heartless only got more dense as they approached the chamber, leading Axel to think this was the right way. They dispatched dozens of Wisps, Paladins, and Spellblades while Chirithy hung back, and once the Heartless around the door were cleared, they noticed their way was blocked with a magic barrier. It shimmered with light as they approached, but Terra held out his Keyblade to unlock it and allow them entry.

 

Once inside, they shut the door behind them, which immediately sealed itself again. The expansive chamber was thankfully quieter, with no Heartless to be seen. As they approached the thrones, they spotted Queen Minnie, Daisy, Chip, Dale, and Pluto. The dog ran up to them, barking in greeting, causing Chirithy to hide behind Terra’s legs.

 

“Terra! Lea!” Minnie exclaimed, walking up to them. “Thank goodness you’ve come!”

 

Terra turned to Axel, confused. “Lea?”

 

He scratched the back of his head in response. “Yeah, it’s easier to just go by Axel now.” He turned back to Minnie. “Your Majesty, are you okay?”

 

“Yes, I think so,” she answered. “The town is mostly untouched. Chip and Dale have been keeping us connected to everything outside, but…”

 

“We can only stay holed up in here for so long,” Daisy finished for her. “There isn’t much we can do.”

 

“Why are they focused on getting just in here?” Terra asked.

 

Minnie and Daisy looked at each other, but Minnie gave him his answer, hesitation in her voice. “Well… Hidden below this room is an ancient relic called the Cornerstone of Light. I believe these light Heartless desire its power.”

 

Darkness swirled in the corner of the room and Maleficent emerged from a dark corridor. “Well then it’s obvious, isn’t it? Destroy the Cornerstone.” Before Terra or Axel could do anything, Minnie shouted.

 

“Holy!” A pillar of light erupted where Maleficent stood, but she dodged in a swirl of darkness, reappearing on the other side of the chamber. Daisy launched a powerful ice spell at her, but Maleficent deflected it with an annoyed wave of her scepter.

 

“Stand down!” Maleficent demanded them. “I am not here to fight you.”

 

Terra rushed forward with his Keyblade drawn and brow furrowed in anger. “Long time no see, Maleficent.”

 

“Terra?” she asked, looking genuinely surprised. “Well, well. You yet live.”

 

Chirithy quivered from behind Terra. “Ooh, she’s scary!”

 

Axel stood guard from the back, unsurprised when Pete appeared from the dark corridor after her. Now, they were surrounded on both sides and he didn’t like it. “If you’re not here to fight,” Axel said, “then why are you here?”

 

“Hoo boy,” said Pete. “The tension in here is thick.”

 

“I have come to destroy the Cornerstone, of course,” Maleficent replied. “The light has grown too powerful across all the worlds. The relic serves only to empower it.”

 

“It is meant to protect this castle from darkness like yours!” Daisy interjected.

 

Minnie stood straight, hands clasped together and eyes narrowed, but despite that Axel knew she was poised to attack at any moment, if need be. “Yet this is the second time you’ve pierced its defenses. How can that be?”

 

Behind her, Pete put his hands on his hips, looking smug. “It’s thanks to me! I am from this world, as you well know, and the Cornerstone knows it too!”

 

Minnie sighed. “And, against all odds, your heart still has some light within it. So it has been allowing you entry. I see.”

 

“If we destroy it, you’ll just take over the castle with your dark powers,” Terra said to Maleficent. “I know your game.”

 

She rolled her eyes at him. “I could do that with or without the Cornerstone. My only aim is to stop the flood of light from devouring all the worlds. These Heartless of light have been an annoyance to me.”

 

“How heroic of you,” Axel said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “What, so you can flood the world with darkness instead?”

 

“There’s no way we’re gonna destroy it,” Terra said, his voice low with anger.

 

“No,” said Minnie. “I think we should.”

 

“What?” Axel, Terra, Chirithy, and Daisy all turned to her in surprise.

 

“I’ve had the same thought,” she said, looking down at her clasped hands. “Ever since the light Heartless started appearing, the Cornerstone’s light has strengthened. But it lacks any warmth. As far as I am aware, it has never shone like this in all the generations my family has watched over it. I think it is as old as the Realm of Light itself, and thus connected to everything that has been happening.”

 

“Your Majesty, are you sure?” Terra asked her.

 

She nodded. “If we leave it as is, it could hasten every world’s fall to the flood of light, not just this one.”

 

“I am glad you see reason,” said Maleficent. “Let us proceed, then.”

 

“Don’t think so,” said Terra, glaring at her. “We don’t need your help.”

 

“Yeah!” Chirithy exclaimed. “What he said!”

 

“Jeez, I’m sensing some history here,” said Axel. He resolved to ask Terra about it later.

 

“I’m afraid we do need her help,” said Minnie, glancing up at Terra apologetically. “Powerful darkness and light both are needed to destroy it.” She pressed a switch at Mickey’s throne, which opened up a staircase into the Hall of the Cornerstone. Minnie led the way, but even from upstairs its brightness was almost blinding. 

 

Maleficent and Pete walked behind her, both looking smug. Axel kept an eye on them, distrustful. Daisy nodded to Axel as she, Pluto, Chip, and Dale followed behind them and Axel took up the rear with Terra and Chirithy.

 

The Cornerstone of Light sat atop a white pedestal, a perfect sphere that radiated light so intense they all had to shield their eyes. Minnie was right - the light it radiated almost felt cold, even sterile.

 

Minnie and Maleficent took their positions on either side of the Cornerstone, the former raising her hands and the latter her scepter. As they concentrated, Axel felt an even greater sense of unease. He felt like this wasn’t the right thing to do - if they destroyed it, wouldn’t that leave the castle unprotected from darkness once the worlds were all back in balance? With that train of thought, an idea came to him.

 

“Hey, wait a sec,” he said. “Instead of destroying it, why don’t you balance it out with a little bit of darkness? Make it into something new… a Cornerstone of Balance!” He spread his arms wide with a grin, proud of the idea.

 

Minnie stopped what she was doing, considering his words. “Now, there’s an idea…”

 

Pete looked at Axel, surprised. “How’d you know Maleficent was ‘bout to corrupt the light with darkness instead of break it?”

 

Maleficent scowled at Pete. “You buffoon! Tell them all our plans, why don’t you?”

 

Terra pointed his Keyblade at her face. “No corruption. If I see the Cornerstone gain even a fraction more darkness than light, I’ll end you.”

 

She stared Terra right in the eyes, apparently unfazed. “Very well,” she said with the barest of smirks. Minnie and Maleficent got back to what they were doing. Its light dimmed just a little bit while it swirled with energy. Shadow flickered to life at its very center, growing and mixing together with the light as Maleficent encouraged its growth and Minnie suppressed the light to keep it from devouring the darkness. Axel, Terra, Daisy, Chip, Dale, and Pluto all watched the display, transfixed, as the darkness within the Cornerstone grew. Soon after, light and darkness swirled within it in equal measure, and Minnie and Maleficent both stopped, panting from the exertion.

 

“There,” Minnie said. “May I present… the Cornerstone of Balance. Thank you, Maleficent.”

 

“Hmph,” she said. “Maybe now the light in all the worlds has weakened enough to make those light Heartless less of an obstacle.”

 

“Obstacle to what?” Terra asked her, eyes narrowed. “What’re you planning?”

 

“Nothing that concerns you,” she said back. “Though it may concern certain other Keyblade wielders.”

 

“Huh?” Axel asked.

 

Maleficent tapped her fingers against her scepter for a moment, perhaps considering her next words. “Since I have just aided you, perhaps you can aid me in return. I have a question about the Keyblade War in which you two fought.”

 

“No,” Axel said with a dramatic sigh. “We can’t give you Master Xehanort’s gummiphone number. He bit the dust. Sorry.”

 

Pete laughed, but it died quickly in his throat when Maleficent glared at him. “And good riddance to him,” she said. “No, I am more concerned about his lackey, the one named Xigbar. I observed him in the Keyblade Graveyard summoning the souls of four people.”

 

Axel tilted his head, confused. “Huh? He’s alive? And who were those four people?”

 

Pete looked at them through circles he made with his fingers. “They had these funny hoods and freaky animal masks,” he said.

 

Chirithy jumped up and down. “Oh! That’s… that’s…!”

 

A weight dropped into the pit of Axel’s stomach. “The Foretellers. Xigbar’s behind their appearance.”

 

“I figured as much,” said Maleficent. “Furthermore, Xigbar wielded Xehanort’s old Keyblade. You were in the first Organization,” she said to Axel. “What do you know of him? The Foretellers called him ‘Luxu.’ And they said another, Ava, was missing.”

 

Axel scratched his chin. What did it mean that Xigbar was the one who wielded Xehanort’s Keyblade?

 

Chirithy gasped. “I remember now! Luxu was the name of the sixth apprentice, the one who disappeared! Master Ava must not have come because she succeeded in her mission!”

 

Maleficent looked at Chirithy as if noticing him for the first time. “And what are you? How do you know this?” When he got too scared to answer, hiding behind Terra again, she rolled her eyes. “Yes, they mentioned that mission.”

 

“Her mission to form the Dandelions,” Terra realized. “And… I met Xigbar. Well, before he became a Nobody and his name was Braig. I even fought him. He’s been working with Xehanort for years.”

 

“Number II of the Organization,” said Axel. “While Number VII,  Saïx, more or less acted as his second-in-command, Xigbar had a lot of power of his own. I always had a feeling he was up to something. But to think he was that old…” He remembered, suddenly, the Savage Nymph. “Just like Larxene, one of Ava’s Dandelions. But… she didn’t remember any of that until she got her body back the second time. Does that mean he forgot, too? So she’s working with Xigbar again? Er, Braig? Or Luxu? I’m really confused,” he said, shoulders slumping.

 

“It’s all connected,” said Terra. “The question I have is, did Xigbar jump in and steal Xehanort’s Keyblade, taking advantage of his death? Or was this his plan all along?”

 

“He mentioned that he took many names and many vessels,” Maleficent said. “I believe he knew all along.”

 

Terra turned to Minnie. “Your Majesty, I think it’s time for us to find the King. Could you tell us anything about where he went?”

 

Chip scampered up in front of the Queen. “I could answer that, if you don’t mind! We kept in contact with them while they searched the worlds for Sora.”

 

Dale nodded. “But one day, we stopped hearing from them altogether. We couldn’t find their signal at all.”

 

“Which means they went to the Realm of Darkness!” Chip finished. “It’s the only explanation! Our gummiphones can reach any world otherwise.”

 

“What big dummies,” said Pete. “To go to the Realm of Darkness!”

 

Maleficent stroked the head of her scepter. “Indeed. It is intriguing.”

 

They were all interrupted by a harsh ringing sound, and then sudden silence. The walls around them faded away, even the floor, except for a circle of grey light cast by the Cornerstone in which they all stood. Behind it, they saw nothing but a white void. The Cornerstone shimmered, its light and darkness struggling to hold back the white void from consuming even the little bit of floor they stood on.

 

“Whoa…” said Pete, gaping. “What just happened?”

 

“This world has fallen to the flood of light!” Maleficent exclaimed, expressing shock for the first time. “But how? I’d thought the Cornerstone would prevent this.”

 

“The Cornerstone is keeping us safe!” said Minnie. “But I don’t know how much longer it will hold!”

 

Jiminy Cricket appeared on Daisy’s shoulder, and judging from her lack of surprise, she knew he was on her person the whole time. “The world fell so quickly…” he said, looking around at the void. “So completely.”

 

“It’s you,” Maleficent said, pointing a finger at him. “When this is over, I have more questions for you!”

 

“There’s no time,” Terra exclaimed. The Cornerstone was weakening. “We need to get out of here! Where’s the gummi hangar?”

 

“No,” said Maleficent. She waved her hand and a corridor of darkness opened up around the Cornerstone. Terra grabbed it and hefted it over his shoulders, glaring at her. “Everyone, inside,” she said.

 

“How can we trust you to take us to safety?” Terra asked, eyes narrowed.

 

“We’ve got no other choice,” said Axel. “Besides, I can navigate the dark corridors too. C’mon, everyone!”

 

“Where will we go?” Minnie asked in worry.

 

“To where everyone used to go when the worlds fell to darkness,” Axel answered. “The refugee world, Traverse Town.”

 

* * *

 

_ Who are you? _

 

“I’m Axel. Got it memorized?” He found himself in a white void. He remembered, as if from a distant time, a void just like this. But he escaped into darkness then, didn’t he?

 

_ Axel. I see. _

 

“But who are you? Where am I?”

 

_ An old master. A champion of the light, or so I thought. I was called Eraqus. _

 

“Eraqus, huh?”

 

_ Who are you? _

 

“I told you. Don’t tell me you already forgot.”

 

_ You struggle with your weakness. You hide it well, but you have failed so much, haven’t you? _

 

“I was pretty useless during the Keyblade War, I guess… Whatever. It’s in the past.”

 

_ You try so hard to be the pillar of support. The warm fire to your friends. But you have made mistakes. _

  
“Many. Ever hear of the Organization? I’m making things better, though.”

 

_ It’s okay to make mistakes. I’ve made some in my life. _

 

“Oh, only some? Modest, aren’t you.”

 

_ Though few, they were great. With many consequences. _

 

“Okay, what’s the point of this conversation? Am I dreaming?”

 

_ I am warning you. Your pure intentions, your inner light, can destroy you just as mine did, if left untempered. I was so focused on eradicating darkness that I was almost consumed by my light. It could kill you. _

 

“Well that’s great to know. Thanks.”

 

_ You are welcome. It’s time for you to wake up now, Lea. _

 

* * *

 

_ Who are you? _

 

“I’m… Terra.” He found himself in a white void, unable to move, perhaps even without a body. He hated this feeling. He knew it all too well.

 

_ Terra… Ah. _

 

The voice was gravelly. He found that he knew that well, too. The white void became suddenly tainted with darkness as anger erupted in him. “Xehanort!”

 

_ So you remember. _

 

“Of course I remember! What did you do to me?”

 

_ I’ve done nothing except retrieve your heart before it could get overwhelmed in the flood of light. You nearly went too far, too deep, past the point of no return. _

 

“Let me go!”

 

_ No, you have it the other way around. You must let me go, Terra. I am still shackling you in ways I never intended. I see now that I was wrong. You have my deepest, most sincere apologies. _

 

“You expect me to just forgive you after saying sorry?!” The stain of darkness vanished, to be replaced with white light somehow even more blinding than the white void.

 

_ Your fear is changing this world. Your righteous anger will consume you if you are not careful. This close to the edge of the Final World, you may never return. _

 

“Leave me!”

 

_ Very well. Wake up, Terra. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the feedback so far! I hate to beg for it, but sometimes it's nice to know this is being read! So... the mysterious voices everyone's been hearing in the white void include Ava, Eraqus, and even Xehanort. But there's one more speaker... I bet it's not too difficult to figure out who it was. So far this person has only spoken to Namine!
> 
> If this were a game, Terra would play largely the same as in Birth by Sleep - fairly balanced between strength, magic, and speed, but with a reliance on strength and brute force. Axel, on the other hand, would be pretty good with both physical strength and magic, but slow and a little clunky, with a lot of ranged raid attacks.
> 
> Hope the Disney worlds aren't too much of a pain to read! I don't know much about KH fandom, but I do know people tend to shy away from writing about that. Speaking of, I have no idea how much of a cliche "light Heartless" is in KH fanfic, but... whatever!


	9. Interlude 2: Traverse Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After failing to save numerous worlds from the flood of light, the Guardians of Light are spit out at Traverse Town, where they regroup, recover, and combine everything they've learned so far.

Interlude 2: Traverse Town

 

The dark corridor opened up to a bright, daylit sky, hurling Kairi from its depths onto a cobblestoned street. She steadied herself and looked around, wondering where they had found themselves. The others poured out of the corridor after her, looking equally confused.

 

Merida’s father scratched his head, shouting loudly. “Where are we? What happened to home? What was all that about?”

 

“Fergus, will you settle down?” Elinor said, trying to placate him. “Can we focus on the fact that I’m naked as me name day right now? And we’re in a town!” She was still wrapped in the tapestry as Isa tried his hardest to avert his eyes.

 

They were, indeed, in a town. Its buildings were all clustered together, iron lampposts unlit, and from what Kairi could see, empty of civilians. Kairi almost didn’t recognize it by daylight at first. “I’ve been here before,” she told them. “We’re in Traverse Town. But… it’s supposed to be always nighttime here. I wonder what changed?”

 

“I can’t say I’ve ever been here,” said Isa.

 

“Me neither,” Naminé added. “But… Could the worlds falling to light have something to do with it?”

 

Apparently deciding that Kairi, Isa, and Naminé had the answers, Fergus rounded on them. “Who are you three? What’s going on here?”

 

Merida pushed aside the naked triplets and stood in front of her father. “They’re my friends, dad. They helped me and mum.”

 

He stepped back and repeated his question, kinder this time. Kairi looked to the others, and when they glanced back at her, she decided to answer him. “We’re in another world. I’m sorry, but… your world has been overcome by the flood of light.”

 

“Another world?” Merida asked, shocked.

 

Elinor gasped. “What happened to all of our people?”

  
Fergus scratched his chin. “Aye, I’ve heard rumors of other worlds out there… Was warned, once, years ago by the forest witch, about preventing our world from falling to darkness. But you say it fell to light?”

 

Merida blinked in surprise at her father. “You’ve met the witch?”

 

A big, yellow dog ran at them, barking happily, and Kairi recognized it as Pluto at once. She knelt down, hugging him as he licked her face. “Pluto! What are you doing here?” She ran ahead to see where he came from, turning a corner just in time to see another dark corridor closing. She drew her Keyblade on the spot when she saw Maleficent and Pete disappearing into the darkness, who noticed her by the sound and glared at Kairi without saying a word. “Maleficent!?”

 

But they were gone. Behind their dark corridor, she spotted Terra, Queen Minnie, Daisy, Chip, Dale, Chirithy, and… “Axel!” she shouted, running over to them. “What happened to you guys?”

 

Axel greeted her with a tired smile. “Boy, do we have a story for you,” he said. “But what happened? What are  _ you  _ doing here?”

 

Jiminy Cricket appeared on Daisy’s shoulder. “We’ve only just arrived here,” he said. “I’ve updated the gummiphones about what happened with us, but I’m afraid you’ve all got catching up to do regardless…” He added that last bit upon seeing Isa, Naminé, and Merida with her family behind her.

 

“Were you… with Maleficent?” Naminé asked.

 

“Long story,” said Terra. He held an enormous, glowing orb in his arms, just barely staying in his grip. He glanced back at Queen Minnie and the others, and then at the party behind Kairi. “But it looks like we’ve been through similar events. Let’s get everyone settled first, then we’ll talk.”

 

* * *

 

In the central square of Traverse Town’s first district, they found Riku, Xion, and a couple that Kairi didn’t know, all standing together, apparently having just arrived themselves. Kairi ran up to them, a wide grin of relief on her face, but it vanished from her face before she reached them.

 

She hadn’t seen Riku face to face in months. “You guys are here, too?” she asked. “What happened? Where were you?”

 

Xion squeezed her into a tight hug. “We were at Rapunzel and Eugene’s world when it fell to light,” she said, gesturing to the unfamiliar couple. “It was horrible, Kairi. I never could have imagined something like that would happen.”

 

Riku, for some reason, couldn’t meet Kairi’s gaze.   
  


Xion looked behind Kairi, apparently noticing the small crowd of people behind her for the first time. “I know,” said Kairi. “The same thing happened to all of us.”

 

Xion went to hug Axel as well, who returned it and then checked his gummiphone. “Roxas and Ven are okay,” he said. “They went back to Twilight Town, but I told them to just come here. They found one of the other New Seven Hearts, Anna.”

 

“More of the New Seven Hearts?” said the girl, Rapunzel, that was with Riku and Xion. She wiped away her tears. “Can someone please tell me what that means now? For real? No more hiding things from me.”

 

“I’d like to know as well,” said Merida, stepping away from her family.

 

Elinor reached out to her. “Merida, wait. We don’t know these people. They were hiding things from us back on our world, before it… before it fell. I don’t know if we could trust them, or if it was their fault to begin with.”

 

Naminé put both her hands over her heart. “Queen Elinor, please. Let us explain everything…”

 

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both of our worlds just… did  _ that _ at the same time,” said the man named Eugene. “That naked lady’s right, how do we know you guys with those weird Keyblades didn’t have something to do with it?”

 

“Hear, hear!” shouted Fergus. “I’ve never met any of ye before!”

 

Terra, Axel, Xion, and Naminé all tried to intervene at once, but Queen Minnie cleared her throat and everyone fell silent. “Queen Elinor, was it?” she asked. “My name is Queen Minnie. Please allow me to tell you everything we know that has befallen  _ all  _ of our respective worlds. But first things first - we must get you some clothing.”

 

Elinor nodded her head, the picture of grace. “That would be most appreciated, Queen Minnie.”

 

Riku pointed ahead at one of the houses behind them and looked down at Minnie. “Your Majesty, that’s Merlin’s old house behind you. I’m sure you could find something there. There’s plenty of room for all of you, and a big cavern underneath for that… silvery orb thing,” he said, glancing at the orb in Terra’s arms.

 

Kairi stepped up next to him. “Merida, Rapunzel, can you two stay with us for the time being?” she asked, looking to both of them in turn. They nodded.

 

Minnie led Elinor, Fergus, the triplets, Daisy, Chip, and Dale to Merlin’s house. Eugene tried to stay behind, but Rapunzel insisted to him that she trusted Riku and Xion, and that he needed to rest and look after the others. Terra followed after them just to secure the orb - apparently a relic called the Cornerstone of Balance - and rejoined them afterward at a house Riku said used to belong to Leon and the Restoration Committee.

 

By that point, Roxas and Ven had arrived in Traverse Town via a dark corridor with an unconscious girl in tow, who they said was Anna. Rapunzel and Merida looked at her with an expression that looked like either concern or fear -  Kairi wasn’t sure - but said nothing as they brought her to Queen Minnie’s care. Afterward, they all gathered together again, and Ven called Aqua to include her.

 

They talked for hours. Riku and Xion explained what happened in the Kingdom of Corona, their encounter with Lauriam, and the world falling to light. Roxas and Ven told them of Elrena stealing Ven away to Arendelle by accident, clashing with her and the Unicorn Foreteller and siding with her, and Anna attempting to harness the powers of Light and being overcome by it, and finally Elrena locking the world’s keyhole before it fell. Kairi, Isa, and Naminé mentioned their adventure and meeting Merida and Aced, while Axel and Terra explained what happened at Disney Castle with Maleficent.

 

The whole time, Kairi felt as if someone else was speaking through her whenever it was her turn to talk. Fighting alongside Isa and Naminé was a nice distraction, but it didn’t change the fact that the people who were supposed to be there with them weren’t. They could talk all they wanted about light Heartless, Keyblades of Darkness and the Cornerstone, the Foretellers, Luxu, or the New Seven Hearts, but no one was mentioning what they could do about the fact that Sora wasn’t there. That the King wasn’t there. That Donald and Goofy were missing with him.

 

They let three different worlds fall to the light - four, counting the Destiny Islands. But everyone was able to look ahead so easily to their next objective. Then again, she wondered if they forced themselves to do that to keep from dwelling on their collective failures.

 

“So that Cornerstone is gonna stay in this world for now?” Ven asked, as they were concluding.

 

“As a relic aligned equally to both light and darkness,” said Terra, “it’s probably for the best that it stays in the Realm Between. It might keep this world, at least, safe for now.”

 

Kairi watched them standing together, like brothers, with the gummiphone video of Aqua between them and Chirithy at their feet. On the other side of the room, Roxas, Axel, Xion, Naminé, and Isa also stood together, finding strength in each other. Riku did not stand with Kairi. It was as if their trio couldn’t even stand to be a duo without Sora. Riku was almost a stranger to her now. She missed him.

 

“So we have a couple of options ahead of us,” said Roxas. “We can keep looking for the New Seven Hearts before the so-called Thorns find them first.”

 

“We’re calling them the Thorns now?” Axel asked, scratching the back of his head. “What about just ‘the Foretellers’?”

 

“Elrena and Lauriam aren’t Foretellers, you big dummy,” said Xion, grinning. “She said that’s what Xigbar started calling them, right?”

 

“Or we could go find the King and the others in the Realm of Darkness,” Terra suggested. “They’ve been gone for too long.” Kairi wondered if “the others” included Sora.

 

Aqua piped up from the gummiphone. “I’ll go rescue…”

 

“No,” Riku said, cutting her off. “We can’t make you go there again. Not after what you’ve been through.”

 

“I’m not too weak for it,” she said, her voice steely. “Or afraid. I know the Realm of Darkness better than anyone.”

 

“I agree with Riku,” said Terra, looking her directly in the eyes. “I don’t want to risk it. We can’t lose you again, Aqua.”

 

“Let’s trust in Mickey,” said Riku. “He’s strong. And he’s got Donald and Goofy with him. They’ll come back.”

 

They were silent for a while after that, but Rapunzel was the one to finally break the silence. “So… do you guys still think that we’re the source of this ‘corrupted light’ or whatever it is?” she asked, gesturing to herself, Merida, and Kairi. “That we’re the reason all that happened to our worlds?”

 

“We don’t know for sure,” Riku said. “It’s hard to say. What do you think about the light in your hearts?” For the first time, he looked directly at Kairi, and the unexpectedness of it made her falter for an answer.

 

She put a hand to her chest and closed her eyes, weighing her answer. She knew everyone was looking at her. She knew, deep down, that something was different about her heart after her death. After losing Sora. But the light in her heart itself? “It’s the same as it always was,” she said finally. “The light in me doesn’t feel ‘corrupted’ or anything at all. Pure light can empower the light Heartless, as we’ve seen, but I don’t think that is because anything is wrong with our hearts. With Merida’s, Anna’s, or Rapunzel’s hearts.” She said the last part with conviction, looking at Rapunzel and Merida as she did so. She didn’t want either of them to feel guilty for what happened. It wasn’t their fault. “It’s just… the way the light works now.”

 

Riku gave her the barest of smiles. “Well, there we have it. So we just have to save everyone’s worlds from falling to the flood of light however we can.”

 

“And find a way to restore the worlds that have fallen,” said Xion.

 

“So was the information I got wrong?” Aqua asked. “I guess… I’ll have to see for myself.”

 

Terra clenched his fist in front of him, getting pumped up. “So, we just need to find three more of these New Seven Hearts? That’s no problem! Where to, then?”

 

Aqua disappeared from the screen for a moment, but then came back. “So it seems like the pathways of light between worlds have been falling apart,” she said. “They’re getting too strong, too overpowered by light Heartless since they’re made of light themselves, according to Yen Sid. So there aren’t many worlds open to us right now. At the moment, he says we can only safely navigate to two of them.”

 

“I say we split into small groups,” Riku said at once. “We don’t have any gummi ships here anymore, and it’ll be tough to go through those pathways and safely stay together with all those Heartless. I’ll take one of those worlds.”

 

“And we still need to find Ansem the Wise,” said Isa. “Though I suspect we will learn more as we encounter the Thorns, which will be inevitable as we search for the New Seven Hearts.”

 

“I’ll go with you, Riku,” Kairi said. He looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.

 

Xion clapped her hands together. “Ooh! Can I come, too?”

 

Kairi smiled at her. “The more the merrier.”

 

“I can meet up with you three there,” said Aqua. “I’ve been cooped up in this tower for too long.”

 

Roxas punched his palm. “I’ll take the other world. Who’s with me?”

 

“Me, duh,” said Axel, raising his hand. “Since Xion apparently seems too occupied to look after you.” At that, Xion stuck her tongue out at him, to which he responded in turn.

 

Isa crossed his arms. “Which means I will come as well.”

 

“Roxas, can I come with you?” Naminé asked, stepping forward with her palms together and a wide smile.

 

“I don’t know if it’ll be safe,” he said, scratching the back of his head. He pushed past Xion, who was elbowing him in the ribs with a wink. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to look after you.”

 

Naminé beamed at him. “You won’t need to. I have my own Keyblade now.” She summoned it on the spot as Kairi giggled and everyone who didn’t already know reacted in shock. “And guess what else? Isa has one now, too! I’d love to show you what we can do!”

 

Isa groaned and hid his face behind his hand as everyone raised a stir. “I had planned to surprise Axel,” he said to Naminé, deadpan.

 

She smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry!”

 

* * *

 

After the others showed the newest Keyblade wielders how to summon their own armor and departed, it was decided that Terra and Ven would stay behind in Traverse Town. They would protect the princesses and everyone else staying behind, while also thinking of new leads on locating Ansem the Wise or more of the New Seven Hearts. Chirithy had been trying to help awaken Anna, but his efforts amounted to nothing, and she still didn’t stir.

 

“This makes the second time I’ve been benched,” Terra said to himself. At least he didn’t have over a dozen kids with Keyblades to worry about. 

 

Then again, he did have Ven and Chirithy, who had more energy than all the other kids back at the Land of Departure combined.

 

He sat on the steps outside of the moogle shop, watching Ven go through some Keyblade exercises. Staring at the ground, he tried to grasp at the fleeting memory of a dream he’d felt he had, but couldn’t remember when. It felt more recent than the last time he slept. All he remembered was feeling angry.

 

“Aw, c’mon, Terra,” Ven said, swinging his Keyblade at a lamppost. “It’s not too bad. We get to hang out.”

 

Terra chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right.” He stared up at the bright blue sky and got up, stretching. “I’m gonna go see if I can find something to eat.” When he turned around, he spotted a figure in pale yellow robes and a leopard mask and summoned his Keyblade to hand. “One of the Foretellers!”

 

Ven stopped what he was doing and dashed up to Terra’s side. “Someone new! Who are you?”

 

The Leopard sat atop a pile of crates, his posture casual - even relaxed. He made no move to summon his Keyblade when they did, and simply observed. “One of the Foretellers,” he said finally. “Just as you surmised.”

 

Chirithy ran up behind Ven, pointing at the Leopard. “Wait! I remember him, too! His name is Gula, leader of the Leopardus Union!”

 

Gula the Leopard switched his gaze to Chirithy at Ven’s feet. “Ah, I see you still have your Chirithy, Ven. I’m glad. He’ll keep you from losing your way.”

 

Terra hurled his Keyblade at Gula, who vanished in a flash and reappeared on the other side of the square, atop a restaurant’s balcony. “Don’t act so familiar with Ven!”

 

“Why not?” Gula asked. “He was, once upon a time, part of my Union.”

 

Ven had started running up closer to the balcony, but stopped. “Huh?”

 

“As was Elrena,” Gula continued. “She missed you, though I bet she’s loathe to admit it.”

 

Terra grit his teeth and stood protectively in front of Ven. He didn’t want Ven getting hurt by this strange boy, taunted by the lost memories of his past. “You won’t be taking Ven away on my watch!”

 

Gula shook his head. “I didn’t come here to kidnap him. I just wanted to talk.”

 

“Good,” said Ven, before Terra could interject. “I wanted to talk, too.”

 

Gula didn’t move from the balcony. “I am glad to hear it,” he said. “But, mainly, I want to know - why don’t you remember the Dandelions, as your comrades do? Lauriam was selected as a Union leader after the end of the Keyblade War, so he remembers the war itself. But he said you were, too.”

 

“I don’t know,” Ven admitted. “I was hoping you would be able to tell me that. I was chosen as a Union leader?”

 

Gula nodded. “Successors to us, the Foretellers, to rebuild the World after the war. As such, Elrena doesn’t remember the war itself, because she wasn’t chosen to be a leader, but she does remember being a Dandelion.”

 

Ven looked down at the ground. “I don’t know…” he repeated. Chirithy sympathetically patted his leg. “I don’t remember anything.”

 

“Perhaps that is the one called Xehanort’s doing, then,” Gula said. At the mention of his name, Terra felt his anger and fear flare up, but forced himself to calm down.

 

“Answer this for us, then,” said Terra. “You Foretellers were supposed to be champions of the light, weren’t you? Why switch to darkness now?”

 

“The balance between light and dark is in flux,” he said. “We have learned, over time, that the natural balance between the two is always shifting, swinging back and forth like a pendulum over the ages. In our time, before the First Keyblade War, the pendulum had shifted too far to the side of darkness. Dark Heartless, beings we called Darklings, appeared for the first time in the years leading up to the war. The war resulted in darkness winning, and so Ava formed the Dandelions to keep the light from being wiped out completely. A mission given to her in secret by our master, unbeknownst to the rest of us.

 

“And so Darkness reigned for ages,” Gula went on. “Master Xehanort mistakenly believed there to be a ‘tyranny of light,’ but he was wrong. The light was just beginning to recover, to grow again, forcing the darkness back into the shadows. The pendulum shifted. Xehanort’s actions were to fight against the natural flow of light, to beat back the tide, but as you and your friends demonstrated, the Light was to become the next victor in the Second Keyblade War. And so, Luxu formed the Thorns to keep the darkness from being wiped out completely.”

 

“So now we’re in an Age of Light?” Ven asked.

 

Terra lowered his Keyblade. “And what’s why there are light Heartless?”

 

Gula nodded. “Indeed, as they have actively eradicated the presence of dark Heartless in all worlds in the Realm of Light except for where we Thorns have consciously tried to coax the darkness out of people’s hearts. All along, Xehanort did truly desire balance between light and dark, but he just went about it the wrong way. He let the darkness corrupt his heart in his pursuit of power and false self-righteousness.”

 

“Did several worlds fall to the flood of darkness after the first war?” Terra asked.

 

“No, actually,” Gula responded. “Not like this. Us Thorns believe the pendulum has shifted too far, too fast, to the side of Light. We were supposed to have centuries of peace before the natural shift in balance again, but it is as if we’ve skipped ahead many, many years. A Third Keyblade War may be on the horizon.”

 

“What?” Ven asked, clenching his fist. “Already? Well, if you guys keep fighting us, it might lead to that! Why’d you all side with Darkness?”

 

“We’ve sided with Darkness to preserve balance, putting aside our own values and beliefs,” Gula said. “That is our only goal. And we will do it correctly, avoiding the mistakes Xehanort made. Instead, I ask you: why don’t you all stand down?”

 

“We can’t just stand by and let this happen!” Terra protested, after he and Ven paused for the barest of moments. He refused to accept that all this was happening - that everything leading up to this - was just the natural course of events for all the Realms.

 

“Then don’t get in our way,” Gula replied simply. “You already did twice. Aced failed in his mission to prevent a world from falling to the flood of light thanks to you all getting to Princess Merida before us. Lauriam failed to lock the keyhole in Princess Rapunzel’s world. If you will not stand down, at least don’t interfere.”

 

“We can’t work together?” Ven asked. Terra glanced at him at those words - always got to trust Ven to offer that sort of solution.

 

“No,” Gula replied, his voice flat. “Working with the light will only nurture it.”

 

“I don’t wanna work with you guys anyway,” Terra said. “If ‘preserving balance’ means kidnapping the New Seven Hearts and making people like Merida’s mother fall to darkness, then I want no part in it.”

 

Gula shook his head. “Then we are at an impasse. You don’t understand - neutralizing the princesses is for the greater good. We want to prevent a Third Keyblade War as much as you do. The Realms of Light, Darkness, and In Between wouldn’t be able to stand the fallout from another war, not so soon.”

 

“We’ll stop it our own way,” said Terra, narrowing his eyes. “And we’ll do it without shoving the problem to the future for other people to deal with.”

 

Gula held out his hand and opened up a dark corridor. “Well, then. Next time we see each other I imagine we will have to fight. See you.”

 

He vanished into it before they could stop him, leaving Terra, Ven, and Chirithy to stare at each other. Chirithy jumped up, chirping with anxiety. “Oh, oh, this won’t do! He was saying really horrible things about you guys, but doesn’t he know you just want to help?”

 

Ven’s shoulders fell. “Yeah… Hey, Terra, do you think my heart might have something to do with it too?” He looked up at Terra, who could see the sadness and even a hint of fear in his eyes.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“My heart is made of pure light, just like the New Seven Hearts,” Ven said. “That makes me an eighth heart of pure light, more than the seven there should be. Could that contribute to the pendulum swinging too far to one side?”

 

“No way,” Terra said, ruffling his hair. “Besides, I’m sure people who seem like pure darkness help fix the cosmic balance, right? Like Maleficent.”

 

“Nobody has a heart of pure darkness, though,” Ven pointed out, sitting on the ground and leaning against the stone walls. “Not even her. Not since… Vanitas.”

 

“Don’t mention that guy,” Terra said. “He doesn’t matter.” He squatted down to Ven’s height. “Don’t worry about it, okay? We’ll figure things out.” He sat down next to Ven, sighing, and looked up into the bright blue sky of Traverse Town, which had stayed daylit far longer than it should have on any other world. “We’ll figure out everything.”

 

* * *

 

On an unknown world, a heart found its way back into a Replica body. The Replica became a girl again - or so the girl thought. Even after all this time, the blank Replica struggled to hold her form, and often she just animated a faceless puppet that sometimes absorbed some of the physical features she once had, if it felt like working correctly that day.

 

Just one of the detriments to inhabiting the first-ever Replica prototype, she supposed.

 

Her body barely managed to survive the journey to a different world, but she had no choice when people she didn’t want to see showed up on the empty world she lived in for the past ten years. After the journey, she was forced to eject her heart from the Replica lest it destroy itself from the toll, existing in the space between worlds and time and death without a foot - so to speak - in either place. But now, the body had recovered enough for her to inhabit it again. She danced this dance ever since her heart sought this body as a vessel ten years before.

 

The girl in the Replica body stood up, her movements jerky, and looked over the world where she found herself, her new sanctuary. She was on an island. Ahead, she could see dozens - perhaps even hundreds - of other islands, all of which had cities built atop them. Bright sunlight shone over the islands and their cities, and she knew she had found herself in the ancient seat of Light. Scala ad Caelum.

 

A bright, pure light shone atop one of the islands like a beacon. Though it was far, she knew she had to make it there.

 

Unsure of whether or not she would run into any people and unwilling to frighten them with her blank visage, she donned her fox mask and made her way to the light.


	10. Te Fiti Islands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After regrouping in Traverse Town and learning more about the flood of light threatening all the worlds, Kairi, Riku, and Xion travel together to one of the few worlds left open for travel, planning to rendezvous with Aqua there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter I'm posting where I don't have a chapter or two written ahead. I've been sick and that really kills all motivation. Also, I said there were gonna be no more really long chapters but.... here we go. I think this one will really be the last super long one, though.

Chapter 8: Te Fiti Islands

 

As expected, the pathways of light between worlds were overcome with light Heartless. 

 

Ahead of Xion, fully armored Riku flipped and danced around on his surfboard, shooting down Heartless and dodging their attacks in return. Kairi did the same with her raft, and working together the three of them managed to fight their way through to the world ahead.

 

An enormous Heartless wielding a massive sword bigger than any gummi ship Xion had ever seen descended upon them just before they reached the world, slashing at all three of them. They scrambled to avoid it, but Xion’s waverider was hit, knocking her off course. The others hovered around her and they managed to fly past their foe and aim for the world’s atmosphere, directing their landing to the first spot they could see: open water, which the world seemed full of.

 

Xion’s landing went too fast and she crashed right into the sea. Sinking fast, she dismissed her armor and swam back up to the surface, gasping in a deep breath of air. She treaded water, basking in the feeling of the warm sun on her face and the calm seas, spotting Riku and Kairi descending from the sky. Since they lacked a boat, Kairi kept her raft even after she dismissed her armor, and Riku jumped on it next to her. Xion climbed on, accepting Kairi’s helping hand.

 

“Xion! Are you okay?” Kairi asked her, her face full of concern.

 

“I’m fine,” she responded, on her knees and catching her breath. “That was fun!”

 

Riku scoffed. “Yeah, fun is one word for it. I’d hoped we’d land on… well, land.” He examined Kairi’s metallic raft. “We have a mast but no sail and a rudder but no propulsion. Kairi, does this come with oars?”

 

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, one second, let me change my Keyblade into a fully functioning yacht. Would that be easier?”

 

Xion laughed. “It’s okay, we’ll manage. Right? Or we can just fly back up and look for land.”

 

Riku crossed his arms, looking grumpy. “If we fly around too much there’s a chance we could be seen.”

 

Kairi laughed, too. “We’ll be fine,” she said. “Besides, Riku and I are islanders. We’re used to this sort of thing.” She smiled at him. “Remember? This is just like the old days.”

 

His face softened at that. “Yeah. You’re right.”

 

Xion felt a pang of jealousy when they said that. Her life only began for real about six months ago, and she had no ‘old days’ to speak of. She pushed the thought aside and smiled at them. “We could always go for a swim!”

 

Kairi glanced behind Xion at something distant, squinting and shielding her eyes from the sunlight. “Wait, what’s that?”

 

Xion followed her line of sight to see what looked like two floating towers coming closer to them, and upon closer inspection Xion could see that they were linked together by a barge, like some giant floating fortress. “It looks like some weird ship,” she said. “And… I think it’s coming closer!”

 

As it neared, all three could pick out the tiny sailboat it was pursuing and a commotion on board. Soon enough, they could pick out a girl and an enormous man fighting tiny creatures, barely knee height, aboard the fortress. Despite the size, the two were clearly outnumbered, and the creatures wielded all kinds of dangerous weapons. 

 

“They look like they’re in trouble!” Kairi shouted. She grabbed the rudder and shot an aero spell behind her, propelling their raft toward the fortress. Xion smiled as they rode across the water - Kairi had reacted just like Sora would. She resolved to do the same.

 

Riku leapt from the raft as soon as it was within range, knocking the creatures left and right in an effort to get to the girl and the man. Xion followed right after him. Now that she could see them up close, she realized the creatures were coconuts with arms, legs, and numerous pointy weapons. “Ew!” she exclaimed, kicking one away from her.

 

Kairi jumped up alongside her, casting a reflect spell just in time to protect Xion from a blowdart. “I think they’re cute!”

 

They made their way to the girl who seemed to be fighting to get a funny little chicken from the coconut creatures, slapping them aside with a boat oar as her weapon of choice.

 

“Where’d you all come from?” she asked, ducking under another rain of blowdarts.

 

“Just passing through!” said Riku, singeing the creatures with a barrage of dark fireballs. “Did, they, uh… steal your pet chicken?”

 

“Yes!” she exclaimed. “They’re pirates! It’s super important that I get Heihei back!”

 

Together, the five of them managed to retrieve Heihei. In the scuffle of magic and fighting, the pirates’ fortress fell in on itself, allowing them to escape on the girl and the giant man’s sailboat. They watched it collapse as they sailed away, and Xion let out a little cheer as the coconut pirates gave them rude gestures and shouts.

 

“Who are you all supposed to be?” the man asked, scowling at them. “This sailboat’s getting a little too crowded now.”

 

Upon closer inspection, Xion saw that he was shirtless and almost completely covered in tattoos. She narrowed her eyes when one of the tattoos - vaguely resembling the man himself - jumped from the center of his chest to a spot closer to his shoulder. “Wait, did one of your tattoos just move?”

 

“Well, yeah,” he said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “My tattoos are special. I’m a pretty big deal, you know - I’m the demigod Maui!”

 

Xion gaped. “Whoa…”

 

“Hope you don’t mind if we hitch a ride,” said Riku. “Our boat was sort of stranded.”

 

Kairi gestured to each of them in turn. “My name is Kairi, this is Riku, and that is Xion. We’re… explorers.” She patted the chicken on the head, which to Xion seemed like one of the ugliest creatures she’d ever seen. Still, she had to admit it looked kind of cute.

 

“I am Moana of Motunui,” said the girl. “And Maui here is about to agree to help me on my quest. Right?” She directed the last question to Maui, who scowled at her.

 

“Fine, fine! But first we need to go to the Realm of Monsters and get my fishhook back,” he said, crossing his arms.

 

“The Realm of Monsters?” Riku asked. “To get a fishhook?”

 

“Not just any fishhook,” Maui replied. “It’s a magic fishhook gifted to me by the gods! It lets me transform into any animal. Just wait. It’s epic.”

 

“What kinds of monsters live there?” Kairi asked, sitting on the edge of the boat and putting her feet in the water. Heihei continued to peck at the wood next to her, apparently searching for food. “Anything we can help with?” 

 

Xion wondered if she meant Heartless.

 

“All kinds,” said Maui, wiggling his fingers perhaps in an attempt to scare them. “You’ll need me or they’ll rip you all to pieces.”

 

Moana’s eyes were wide, but she set her gaze. “I don’t mind if you three hitch a ride, but we can’t make any stops on the side. I guess we can use all the help we can get!”

 

“Getting rid of monsters is our specialty,” said Xion. She knelt down in front of Heihei. “Why’d those pirates want this little guy, anyway?”

 

Maui grasped the chicken in one giant hand and squeezed, forcing the chicken to cough up a green stone, which he caught in his other hand. “This gem,” he said. “The heart of Te Fiti. And no, you can’t have it!”

 

“A heart?” Kairi asked, eyes wide. “What is Te Fiti?”

 

Moana furrowed her brow at them. “You’re from far away, aren’t you? Te Fiti is the goddess of life and light. We’re on a quest to return it to her. The ocean chose me.”

 

Riku stood up straight. “What stole it? Heartless?”

 

“No, I have no idea what Heartless are,” said Moana, glaring at Maui. “He stole it, and now darkness is descending upon all the islands.”

 

“Aw, man,” said Maui. “I should have blamed it on the Heartless. The Realm of Monsters is full of ‘em.”

 

“You stole the heart of a  _ goddess _ ?” Xion asked, eyes wide. She didn’t know hearts of gods could take the form of gems like that. “Why would you do that?”

 

“I had my reasons, okay?” Maui put his arms up almost defensively, but turned away from them.

 

Xion, Riku, and Kairi all glanced at each other. If this Realm of Monsters had Heartless like Maui said, they had to check it out. And why was this world being threatened by darkness instead of light? Xion wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing anymore.

 

As Maui focused on sailing, everyone else basked in the relaxing feeling of the sunlight on their faces and the waves rolling beneath the boat. Xion was nothing but smiles - she had never done this before. It felt nice, almost as if she was floating away from all her troubles.

 

“So you’re explorers?” Moana asked them. “I’m a little jealous… I was forced to stay on my home island all my life. I never left until just the other day.”

 

Riku and Kairi glanced at each other and grinned. “I know the feeling,” said Kairi. “Growing up, all we wanted to do was leave our island for the world beyond.”

 

“When we were kids we tried to build a raft just like this one,” Riku said. “It… didn’t really work out.” Kairi laughed. 

 

Xion watched them. Despite their close proximity, she felt so far away. Somehow, Kairi seemed much happier than usual. They both did. Ever since Sora disappeared, everyone knew that there was some kind of tension between them. Xion wondered if Riku blamed Kairi for it, or just himself, but either way he distanced himself from her as a result. Once, a few months back when he had stopped at Radiant Garden to pick up a new Keyblade wielder to bring to Aqua, he confessed to her that he couldn’t face Kairi again until he had found Sora. Apparently, being on a raft on the open sea let them forget about their worries, too.

 

“That was because Sora messed it up, remember?” Kairi said with a grin. But as soon as she said his name, the spell was broken. Both Riku and Kairi went solemn, leaving Moana confused.

 

Xion liked the atmosphere that had descended upon them even less, so she made her way to Maui. “So what’s with the tattoos?” she asked him, spotting the miniature tattoo of himself again as it made its way to one of his biceps to peer at Xion.

 

“They’re memories,” Maui said. “Of my heroic deeds!”

 

“Wow,” she said. “There’s a lot of them!”

 

“Well, duh! I’m an immortal hero!” He flexed for her, showing off more of his tattoos.

 

Xion stood up, wobbling for a moment on the unsteady boat, but she took her best heroic pose in order to match him. “I’m a hero too! If all my heroic feats were tattoos, I’d get a lot more than you, I bet!”

 

Riku glanced at her at that proclamation and gave her a soft smile. “You know, you’re a lot livelier than I remember.”  _ Well, of course _ , Xion thought to herself.  _ When we first met, Riku tried to kill me to bring Sora back _ .

 

Xion put her hands behind her back, leaning forward a bit. “Well, we could always use a bit more cheer, right? Everyone always seems so sad, so I figured I’d pick up the slack.”

 

“I like it,” said Kairi, smiling at her as well. “You’ve really become your own person, Xion.” Riku nodded in agreement.  _ That’s easy for you to say… I was made from Sora’s memories of you. I had to fake this as much as I could. Even now, I don’t know how real it is. _

 

Xion’s smile reached her eyes. “You really think so?”

 

“Definitely,” said Riku.

 

“Thanks for saying that,” she said, putting her palms together. “I’m really grateful.”

 

Both Riku and Kairi were taken aback by the reaction to what they thought was a simple compliment. “Don’t mention it,” Riku said.

 

_ I have to be less like Kairi,  _ she thought.  _ And more like Sora. I guess… I guess it’s working. _

 

* * *

 

“Are we getting closer to the Realm of Monsters?” Moana asked, hours later, when an island came into view. It held a rocky peak, almost as straight as a tower, which Maui explained was the entrance to the Realm of Monsters.

 

“That’s the island,” Maui said. “Lalotai, entrance to the Realm of Monsters. The place from your nightmares!”

 

“We’re meeting a friend there,” said Riku. “She’s going to help us, too.”

 

In the hours before, Xion managed to sneak a message to Aqua on her gummiphone where they were headed, and luckily Aqua was headed there anyway, since she sensed a massive amount of energy on the same island. She said it was neither light nor darkness - or both, she couldn’t tell, and figured it was a good place to begin investigating. Thankfully, Chip and Dale had installed map functions on the gummiphones, making it easier for them to collaborate with Aqua.

 

“Wow, ‘cause that’s not suspicious at all,” said Maui.

 

They pushed the boat ashore, where they met Aqua sitting on the beach, waiting for them. She stood up and smiled when they arrived, waving at them in greeting. “Good, you made it!” she said.

 

“It’s good to see you, Aqua,” said Xion. They introduced Aqua to Moana and Maui and began their climb up the nearly vertical mountain. At its summit, they were to find the entrance to the Realm of Monsters.

 

“Heartless have been spilling out of the entrance since I’ve been here,” Aqua told them as they climbed.

 

“Dark or light?” Kairi asked.

 

“Both,” she answered. “This world seems caught in a struggle between them.”

 

“They’ll be no match for me once I’ve got my fishhook back!” Maui exclaimed.

 

“You know, Aqua, I have to ask…” Moana said, struggling to catch her breath during the climb. “Where’s… your... boat?”

 

“I, um, lost it in a Heartless attack,” Aqua said quickly.

 

Moana looked as if she was holding back laughter. “Wow… Four explorers and no boat between them, huh?”

 

The six of them managed to climb all the way to the top, where they found a pool of water in the center of the plateau. Riku dove in first when Maui explained this was the portal. Not wanting him to show her up, Xion took a deep breath and leapt in right after him.

 

As soon as she hit the portal, she knew it wasn’t normal water. She sunk far faster than she should have, unable to swim. Unclear shapes, perhaps the fabled monsters, formed out of the murk, but Xion sped past them before she could clearly make them out. Just as she was beginning to run out of breath, she felt her body reorient and shoot upward, and she fell out of the water onto what could only be described as the seafloor.

 

Coral formations and and seashells of all different colors mesmerized her. Seaweed swayed as if underwater. Mysterious shapes swam in the distant darkness, but strange lights also glowed even further away. The Realm of Monsters truly felt like another world. Xion looked up. None of the others followed after her. She was alone.

 

“Riku? Riku!” she called out. “Anybody!” A white shape swam toward Xion, its movements jerky. A moment later, it stood, and Xion recognized it as a Dusk. “Nobodies? Here!?” She summoned Kingdom Key Replica to her hand as the Nobody attacked, and after she dispatched it she heard sounds of more fighting behind an enormous piece of blue brain coral.

 

She made her way to the sound, spotting Moana fighting alone against dark Heartless and more Nobodies. Xion rushed to her aid, and together they turned the tables and made quick work of them. “Thanks, Xion!” Moana said. “I thought I was done for. The monsters here are weirder than I thought.”

 

“They’re probably not the normal monsters that should be here,” Xion said. “These are Heartless and Nobodies.” She couldn’t explain further because more of them attacked - light Heartless now, too, just barely missing Moana with their attacks. They dashed through them, Xion leading the way, just barely dodging through enormous toothy fish, eels, and all sorts of monsters that tried to attack. This place was far from beautiful as Xion first thought - it was hellish.

 

After nearly being immolated by a jet of hot water that shot from the ground, they found Riku in combat with a shark creature that had an emblem on its head Xion didn’t recognize. “Riku!” she shouted, joining him in combat. Along with Moana, the three of them took down more of the shark creatures that appeared, and when the coast was clear they dismissed their weapons. “What were those?”

 

Riku looked at her almost in surprise. “Thanks for the help.”

 

“What, were you just expecting me to stand there and watch?” she asked.

 

“Er, no…” he said, scrambling for a response. “I, uh, guess I owe you even more now.”

 

She tilted her head. “I didn’t think you owed me in the first place. You mean when we fought the Heartless at Rapunzel’s tower? That one was kinda my fault…”

 

“No… before that. I need to repay you for what I did to you.” He scratched his head and turned away.

 

Xion clasped her hands together in front of her. “Oh… That.” His attack on her, the attempt to bring an end to her existence to bring back Sora. She looked down at her hands. “That was ages ago, Riku. Ancient history.” She thought it was funny now, sometimes, how she was friends with Riku, Naminé, and even Saïx, after all that. “I suppose, between all of us, nearly every one of our friends was an enemy with another friend at one point or another. No use stressing over it now.”

 

Even as she said that, she thought back to when he attacked her. Cloaked in black. Angry. Assaulting her with darkness. She tried to shake the memory away.

 

Moana stuck the top of her oar in the sand and crossed her arms. “Huh? Whatever you two are talking about, I don’t think there’s time to unpack all of that right now.” Xion and Riku both looked at her, startled. “What? Forget that I was here?”

 

Xion grinned sheepishly. “Oh, no, sorry! Not at all.” She turned back to Riku. “So what were those shark things with the weird emblem, anyway?”

 

“Nightmares,” Riku said, composing himself again. “Maui wasn’t kidding. Those were a type of Dream Eater.”

 

“Dream Eaters?” Xion asked. “Here? But we’re not asleep!”

 

“Maybe it’s something about this realm,” he said, frowning. “A place from nightmares. I found both kinds of Heartless.”

 

Xion brushed the sand from her skirt. “And Nobodies, too. I don’t know why they’re all drawn here.”

 

Riku put his fingers to his lips, deep in thought. “They’re all creatures that live in darkness. I think they were drawn to this world, since it’s one of the few in the Realm of Light that still has a lot of darkness.”

 

“Think the Thorns are involved?”

 

Moana put her hand on her hip. “You two sure seem to know a lot about what’s going on,” she noted. “Anything you’re not telling me? Something tells me you’re not regular explorers…”

 

“C’mon,” said Riku, walking ahead. “We have to find the others.”

 

Moana pulled her oar out of the sand and huffed. “Wow, expert question dodging.”

 

After fighting through more Heartless, Nobodies, and Dream Eaters, they made their way to a glowing cavern where they heard more fighting inside. Xion ran ahead, finding that the source of the light was a massive light Heartless shaped vaguely like a crab, its glow reflecting off of the hoard of treasure filling the cavern. Aqua, Kairi, and Maui all fought it together, the latter holding its attention while Aqua and Kairi blasted it with magic.

 

Xion leapt into the fray, Riku and Moana right behind her. “Need some help?” Xion asked Kairi. Xion transformed her Keyblade into a copy of Moana’s oar just in time for massive claws to try to clamp down on her. She blocked it with the oar and danced out of the way.

 

Kairi had transformed her Keyblade into a grimoire that floated just beneath her fingertips. She levitated in place, assaulting the Heartless with magic from all sides. A fountain of water pushed it away from her, slamming it the cavern’s wall and into a storm of lightning cast by Aqua. “Maui’s fishhook is stuck in its back!” Kairi told them.

 

Riku didn’t need any more explanation, jumping ahead with his Keyblade drawn to crash down on the crab from above. He barely dented its carapace, but he stood on its back and tried to dislodge the fishhook. The Heartless hissed and tried to throw him off, showering them all with a rain of glowing bubbles. Xion slashed at the bubbles with her oar, bouncing them away from her, Kairi, and Moana where they hit the walls or ground and exploded in a burst of light. She spotted Aqua trying to do the same, but she froze in place with terror in her eyes, the bubbles descending on her. “Aqua!” Xion cried.

 

The bubbles converged on Aqua, exploding into a series of bright flashes. Each light made her body spasm until they threw her back, landing painfully in the sand. Kairi rushed to her side, casting healing spells at her. She managed to reach Aqua just in time to summon a barrier with her grimoire and protect Aqua from another claw. “Aqua, are you okay? What happened?”

 

Aqua stirred and sat up, rubbing her head. “I saw… I saw…” She looked up, noticed they were still battling, and narrowed her eyes. “Ugh! I’m sorry. Thank you, Kairi.” She summoned Rainfall again, ready for battle.

 

Xion covered Moana as she made her own grab for the fishhook, but the Heartless threw her off its back, too. Maui went for it next, but its whole body pulsed with a flash of light that blasted them all backwards. Xion transformed her Keyblade back to its default form and slid underneath it, hoping that its belly was unarmored, while Kairi shot it from afar with a barrage of arrows.

 

It roared with pain as Xion attacked, stomping around with such ferocity that Xion thought she was going to be crushed beneath it. Riku came to her aid, using his shield formchange, and her eyes locked with his as they took shelter under its vicious blows.

 

“All right, enough!” Aqua shouted out. “Stopza!”

 

The crab Heartless froze in place and everything went silent until Maui laughed. “Now why didn’t you do that to begin with?”

 

“It’s a tough spell to cast,” Aqua said to him with narrowed eyes. “It took some time. And it won’t hold for long.”

 

Riku changed his shield into an enormous hammer, wielding it with two hands. Darkness swirled around the hammerhead as he lifted it up. “It’s over.” He slammed it against the crab’s exposed underbelly, finally making it dissipate into twinkling lights.

 

The fishhook fell into the sand, where Moana went to pick it up. It was almost as big as she was. She handed it off to Maui, who beamed with delight and immediately transformed into a tiny crab. And then a pig. A horse. A bird. A shark. A chicken. A crab again. He let it go, transforming back into his normal self. “What? It’s not working right!”

 

“Maybe it’s been a while?” Moana suggested with a shrug.

 

* * *

 

Back outside, Maui fell into a depression about the fishhook, but when they crowded onto the boat Moana had to convince him once again to help return the heart of Te Fiti. With a little help from the ocean, which moved of its own will to slap him, a disgruntled Maui finally agreed.

 

“Did anyone else see that?” Xion asked. “Please tell me someone else saw the ocean do that.”

 

“Yes,” said Aqua, blinking. “I saw that.”

 

“What just happened?” Kairi asked Moana, who seemed more smug than surprised.

 

“I told you,” she said. “The ocean chose me.”

 

“Amazing,” said Riku, crossing his arms. He gave a low, appreciative whistle.

 

“You can whistle?” Xion asked him, surprised. “I didn’t know that.”

 

Riku raised an eyebrow. “Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

 

Xion sat down and put her feet in the water. “Well, then, I guess we’ll need to learn more about each other. Since we’re all friends.”

 

She missed the knowing smirk that passed between Aqua and Kairi.

 

“You mean you don’t know how to actually sail this thing?” Maui asked Moana.

 

“Well, no,” she said. “My father never let me leave the island. No one ever went beyond the reefs.”

 

Maui chuckled. “Then you’ve gotta learn how to be a wayfinder.”

 

Aqua looked up. “A wayfinder?”

 

“A navigator,” he explained. “Or a guide. Sailors rely on wayfinders to guide everyone home.”

 

Moana grinned. “Teach me!”

 

“Where I’m from, a wayfinder is a charm,” Aqua said. “It mostly has the same purpose… and I think it helped guide me back to my friends.”

 

Riku looked at Kairi. “Like your old charms, right?”

  
Kairi held up a charm made out of seashells and smiled. “Yeah. Maui, can I learn, too?”

 

“Okay, okay, gather ‘round,” he said, rolling his eyes as if annoyed. Xion could tell he secretly enjoyed it. “But don’t move too much. This boat is too small for all of us.”

 

Kairi and Moana listened to Maui’s explanation, but Xion noticed Aqua staring ahead over the open sea, her feet dangling in the water. She sat down next to Aqua instead. “Are you okay? I saw you freeze up back there.”

 

Aqua looked at her, as if startled from her reverie. “Huh? Oh, yeah… Sorry about that.”

 

“It was like… you saw something.”

 

Aqua took a deep breath and hugged her knees. “It was nothing.”

 

“You can rely on us, you know,” Xion told her. “I know I’m not Terra or Ven, but…”

 

“That’s not it,” she said. “I trust all of you. It’s just… Riku and I are the Keyblade Masters. We should be the strong ones, and yet… I feel so weak sometimes.”

 

Xion leaned forward, swinging her feet through the water. “That doesn’t mean you always have to stand on your own. And I don’t think you’re weak, for the record.”

 

Aqua looked at her and smiled. “Thank you. Honestly… that Realm of Monsters was too much like the Realm of Darkness for my liking. When we found out Mickey went there, I thought I was ready to face it again. But… I guess I can’t yet. I still see things that haunted me all those years.”

 

Xion squeezed her hand in support. “That’s okay. You were there for… ten years, weren’t you? It’s okay not to recover from that in less than six months. You have to give it time, you know?”

 

She nodded, looking over the ocean once again. The sun had set, and night fell. “Yeah. Thank you, Xion.”

 

Xion beamed at her. “Anytime!”

 

Their boat rocked violently, startling everyone. “What was that?!” Moana asked, trying to balance herself.

 

Glowing yellow eyes appeared in the water, black shadows grasping at Xion’s legs. She yelled out and scrambled to her feet, drawing her Keyblade. “Dark Heartless!”

 

“We’re getting closer to Te Kā,” said Maui, hefting his fishhook. He looked ahead and Xion spotted an island with darkness swirling around it. More Heartless leapt out of the water onto their sailboat, giving them little room to attack. Everyone stood, but it caused the boat to rock again, knocking Kairi into the water. Moana dived in after her and the ocean responded, lifting them both back out and pushing the boat toward the island in the distance.

 

“Te Kā?” Aqua asked, slashing at the shadows that tried to board.

 

“A demon of darkness,” said Maui. “The source of the dark curse spreading across the ocean and all the islands.”

 

“It rose to power when Te Fiti’s heart was stolen,” said Moana, glaring at Maui as their boat sped to the island. As they neared, an enormous figure rose from the mountain on the island, and for a moment Xion thought it was a volcano that had erupted. Instead, she realized that it was a demonic entity, a dark being made of magma. Te Kā.

 

“And we just have to beat that?” Riku asked, gripping Braveheart with a smirk. “No problem.”

 

“Just beyond is Te Fiti’s island, where I have to return her heart,” said Moana.

 

All four Keyblade wielders nodded with determination. Though it was as big as a mountain, they’d faced worse.

 

As they neared, Te Kā took notice of them and lifted one massive hand, aiming a punch that released a blazing ball of magma right at them. Moana maneuvered the boat around the blast.

 

“We can’t just go right at it!” Maui shouted.

 

“I’ve got this!” she shouted back. Te Kā lobbed another blast of magma at them, but Riku, Aqua, and Kairi all combined their strength to form a barrier over their boat. Xion looked at the line of rocky crags Te Kā used as its base. Behind it, she supposed, was Te Fiti’s island. There was a single tiny gap in the rocks, and a moment later Xion realized Moana was aiming for it. Te Kā tried to lumber after them, but its hands destroyed part of the stone and one fell into the water, which hardened into rock and broke off. The monster roared in pain.

 

Maui, too, seemed to come to the same realization. “We won’t make it! Turn back!”

 

“We will!” Moana shouted.

 

He tried to wrest control of the rudder from her. “No, we won’t!”

 

“It’s weak to water magic!” Aqua shouted once they were closer in range. “Kairi, help me!” Both of them cast the strongest water spells they could muster, which repelled the demon, but it burned the spells away into steam and struck at them again. Maui raised his fishhook to block the blow, his weapon flashing, and the force of the blow sent the boat careening away on massive waves. Xion and the others all struggled to hold on, shouting out and getting drenched, but she could only hope they didn’t lose anyone overboard in the chaos…

 

She wasn’t sure how far they had drifted off course by the time they stopped, but the night had stretched on. Xion looked up, grateful that they didn’t lose anyone, but the island and Te Kā were nowhere in sight. “Is… everyone okay?” she asked, groaning.

 

Everyone nodded, except Maui, who sat with his back to them. Slowly, he turned around, cradling his fishhook with a scowl on his face. It had a giant crack in it, magic sparking through its form. “It’s broken. I told you to turn back.”

 

Moana struggled to find words. “But… I thought…” She brushed her wet hair back. “We can fix this.”

 

“This is a gift from the gods,” he said. “There’s no fixing this. Why didn’t you listen?”

 

“Hey, it was a bad call,” said Aqua, trying to placate him. “We thought we could do it.”

 

“We could still do it,” said Kairi. “As long as we have the will.”

 

“We can make it through that gap,” said Moana, securing the parts of the raft and checking on Heihei.

 

“I’m not going back,” Maui said quietly.

 

Riku narrowed his eyes at him. “Why not? You can’t give up that easily.”

 

“I’m not,” Maui repeated. He held up the fishhook. “One more hit, and this is done. And without this, I’m nothing.”

 

“You can’t really believe that,” Riku told him. “Don’t give in to that. Believe in yourself, in your heart, and we’ll be able to fight against the darkness.”

 

Xion stared at him. That was a very Sora thing to say.

 

“But you have to come with me to return Te Fiti’s heart,” Moana said, grasping the stone inside her necklace.

 

“I said no!” Maui raised his voice with enough force to make them quail. “I’m not going back with you to get myself killed, and you shouldn’t either.”

 

Moana looked like she struggled not to cry. “But the ocean chose me!”

 

He turned away from her, from them all, and raised his fishhook. “It chose wrong.” He summoned its magic, which quivered and shocked him, but he tried again and transformed into a falcon, flying away into the night.

 

“It’s okay, Moana,” said Kairi after a few moments of silence. She placed her hand on Moana’s shoulder. “We can all do it together.”

 

“No,” she said, sitting down and hugging her knees. “He’s right. I’m no one important.”

 

“You can’t believe that,” Aqua told her. “Everyone’s important.”

 

“Can you all just… leave me alone?” she asked, hiding her face behind a curtain of wet hair. "Just for a little bit?"

 

Xion frowned. “Where are we supposed to go?” Silently, Moana pointed ahead. Out of the darkness, Xion could barely make out an island that their boat slowly drifted toward. “Oh.”

 

“We should go check it out,” Riku said, paddling toward it. “Give her space.”

 

They dragged the boat ashore and left Moana sitting on it as they walked along the beach. The sound of the waves rolling against the sand helped Xion feel calmer. She found herself looking up at the sky, at the unnaturally bright stars. She had never seen a world with such pretty stars.

 

“Wow, do you guys see that?” she asked, but no one was paying attention. Instead, Riku and Kairi were both looking back at Aqua, whose eyes were on Moana and the sailboat.

 

“Should we really leave her there?” Aqua asked in concern. “What if Heartless attack or something?”

 

“No, I think we should just give her some space,” said Riku. “Sometimes… that’s all you can really do for someone.”

 

Kairi clasped her hands together. “Riku… is that why you’ve been absent all this time? Ever since Sora faded away? Because you thought I needed space?”

 

Aqua and Xion both went silent, eyes wide. But Xion could tell that Kairi’s tone wasn’t angry or even accusatory - she just made an observation.

 

Riku rubbed his arm. “I’m sorry, you guys. Especially to you, Kairi. I thought… I thought that’s what you would have wanted.”

 

Kairi looked down at her feet. “I’ve felt so alone. All I’ve wanted was my friends at my side. And that includes you, Riku. I know some of it is my fault and I know sometimes it feels like Sora’s the only one who keeps us together, but that’s not true. I may feel… differently, about Sora, but you’re important to me, too.” She looked at Aqua and Xion. “All of you are.”

 

Aqua smiled at her. “I’m sorry too, Kairi. Being busy isn’t an excuse. We’re all here for each other. We’re all Guardians of Light.”

 

Xion linked her arm with Kairi’s, grinning. “Yeah!

 

Riku turned away only for a moment, but when he looked back at them he smiled. “Thanks, all of you. Things will be different from now on.”

 

Xion looked around as they continued exploring the island’s shore. It was a tiny island, with no room for villages or anything on it, but it had plenty of natural beauty and palm trees. She saw two palm trees close together further down the beach with something hanging between them, and peering closer she realized it was a hammock. She ran toward it, spotting someone splayed out on it and totally passed out, wearing nothing but swim trunks and sunglasses with a coconut drink tucked under his arm. Upon closer inspection, she recognized the blond mullet.

 

“What? Demyx!”

  
The others ran up behind her, just as confused as she was. “What’s he doing here?” Kairi asked, one arm held in front of her protectively.

 

Demyx stretched and yawned, lifting up his sunglasses without any concern over seeing them. “Oh, it’s you guys,” he said. “Wow, guess I must’ve fallen asleep. It’s so nice here.”

 

“Who is he?” Aqua asked.

 

“What’re you doing here, Demyx?” Kairi repeated, eyes narrowed and frowning.

 

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, holding up a hand as if to stop her. “That’s not my name anymore, man. It’s Meyd.”

 

“Meyd?” Riku asked. “You reformed?”

 

He put his sunglasses back on and took a sip from his drink, the straw slurping. “Yeah, for the second time. And check this out.” He held out his other hand where a Keyblade manifested, with a big hilt reminiscent of a guitar. “Ta-da!”

 

“A Keyblade!” Xion exclaimed, drawing her own in case he wanted to fight.

 

“Aw, c’mon, you wanna fight me after that super nice thing I did that totally allowed you guys to turn the tables against Master Xehanort?” he asked, his voice whiny. “I delivered a Replica for Roxas to use, y’know! How’s he liking that new body, anyway?”

 

Aqua glanced at Xion. “Does he not realize how silly he looks wearing sunglasses at night?”

 

“Why do  _ you  _ have a Keyblade?” Kairi asked.

 

“Back when we were with the ‘true’ Organization or whatever old Xehanort called it, Marluxia said him and me and Larxene and Luxord were all part of some ancient Keyblade legacy. Cool, right? And when I reformed I was totally able to summon a Keyblade of Darkness!” He held his Keyblade up and showed them both sides. At his words, Xion wondered when they’d eventually come across Luxord.

 

“So you’re one of the Thorns,” said Aqua, pointing Rainfall at him. “And you’re here on their behalf. I bet you’re responsible for the darkness spreading across this world.”

 

“Oh, you know about all the Thorns already? I dunno about the name, honestly. I think Luxu was tryin’ to emulate the whole Dandelion thing. I’ve been wondering if Lauriam gave them the ideas. Y’know, plant based things.” When they all gave him blank stares, he abandoned that tangent. “Nah, I’m just here for a good time,” he said. “Okay, you guys can carry on, I’m still relaxing.” He dismissed his Keyblade and leaned back with his arms behind his head.

 

Kairi grabbed the hammock and flipped it, knocking him into the sand with a mischievous grin Xion had never seen on her before. “Nope. You’re gonna come with us to help seal the world’s keyhole against the light Heartless.”

 

Meyd spit the sand out of his mouth, sputtering. “C’mon! What gives?”

 

Riku hooked his arm under one of Meyd’s and basically dragged him back in the other direction, toward the sailboat. Aqua took up his other side to prevent his escape. “You wanna do your job as a Thorn? Then help us protect this world from the flood of light,” Riku told him.

 

On the way back, they saw Moana standing in the surf, light shapes dancing all around her. They were about to rush ahead, fearing light Heartless, but realized none of them were harming Moana. “Oh, yeah,” said Meyd. “I forgot. That’s one of the New Seven Hearts. Would you look at that! I found her!”

 

* * *

 

An hour later, they were sailing toward Te Fiti’s island again. Aqua and Kairi battered the sail with wind magic while Meyd glumly propelled them with water magic and Moana sat at the rudder, determination in her eyes once again. They made it back to the island as the sun rose, and Te Kā had risen with it. The demon roared and blasted them with magma as they neared, but Aqua cast a water spell to cool it into harmless stone and Riku leapt into the air to destroy it with his Keyblade.

 

Te Kā aimed at them with fury, its “hair” bursting with flames. A cloud of darkness swirled around its form and its arms rippled. As they neared, Xion noticed its movements were jerky, inhuman, and completely unnatural in a way that she knew all too well. She peered closer at the center of its chest while the chaos of the battle raged around her. A swirling pattern sat in the center of its chest, but in the nucleus of the swirl she saw an emblem that she recognized.

 

“It’s a Nobody!” Xion exclaimed. “Te Kā is a Nobody!”

 

“A what?” Moana asked through grit teeth, trying her hardest to maneuver the boat around the blasts.

 

“A Nobody,” she repeated. “The body left behind when someone loses their heart.”

 

Moana gasped. “A body without a heart…”

 

“Oh man, oh man, oh man!” Meyd shouted out in fear, pointing ahead at the wave of magma that came right toward them. “Hurry, dodge that one! Oh, no, I’m gonna die!”

 

Aqua and Kairi stepped in front of him and cast an enormous water spell together, conjuring a wave even bigger than the magma and cooling it, allowing Moana to dodge around it. “Thanks for all your help, Meyd,” said Kairi, vaguely annoyed with him. She turned to Xion. “I think you’re right!”

 

They neared the gap in the barrier island. Te Kā roared and dragged itself closer to them, showering the entire gap in magma. Riku covered them in a dark barrier just as they reached it, barely edging through in time. Meyd shrieked. Dark Heartless attacked from the water and the sky, appearing from the torrent of water and the storm that swirled all around them. Xion and Riku batted them out of the sky while Aqua, Kairi, and Moana worked together to get their boat through the gap.

 

And then they made it through. The sky was full of darkness and Heartless and Nobodies, but they could see another island ahead, just a short distance away: Te Fiti’s island.

 

Te Kā wasn’t done with them yet. It slammed a massive hand down on them, but a shape flew by and distracted it. A falcon flew into its face and swooped through its arms, dodging every swing Te Kā made toward it. Te Kā wailed in distress.

 

“Maui!” Moana shouted, beaming. “He came back!”

 

With Heartless as their only obstacle, the four Keyblade wielders fought while Moana steered to the island and Meyd sat cowering. As soon as they reached the shore, Moana kept running, her hand grasping her necklace. Leaving the return of the heart to her, Xion and the others faced the wave of Heartless coming their way while Moana climbed above. Xion saw her stop and face Te Kā again.

 

“Te Fiti!” she shouted, holding the heart in front of her. “Come here!”

 

“Te Fiti?” Riku asked. “Te Kā is the goddess?”

 

“Te Kā is her Nobody,” said Xion, eyes wide, coming to the same conclusion.

 

The ocean cleared a path between Moana and Te Kā, washing away all of the Heartless and Nobodies in answer to Moana’s call. Te Kā stopped, her rage ending, and moved toward Moana. From underneath, they all saw Moana return the heart to its proper place: the spiral in the center of Te Kā’s chest. Light burst forth from the heart and the hard, rocky outer shell of Te Kā fell away, revealing vibrant green underneath. The ocean lifted Xion, Riku, Aqua, Kairi, and Meyd out of the way of the falling rocks, placing them at the top of the mountain where Moana stood. There, they could see Te Kā’s horrid face fall away and Te Fiti’s beauty shine. She seemed made of an island herself, her hair made of flowers in all the colors. She lifted Moana in both of her enormous hands, pressing her face against Moana’s in thanks.

 

“The light never left her,” said Kairi. When the dark storm cleared and the morning sun shone down on them, light Heartless started to take the place of the dark Heartless, dancing around in the air above them. “Meyd, quickly!”

 

"Mickey always said a heart needs to have both light and darkness in it," said Riku. "Even the hearts of gods."

 

“Alright, alright, I know, I’m here to do exactly what you guys literally dragged me here to do,” he said, summoning his Keyblade. “Sheesh.” The keyhole appeared at the top of the mountain, causing Moana, Maui, and Te Fiti to stare down at it. The light Heartless converged on them, but Te Fiti waved an arm and they all vanished in a spray of light and seafoam.

 

Meyd aimed his Keyblade at it, where a stream of darkness shot from the tip and into the keyhole. Kairi followed his lead, sealing it against darkness as well.

 

“Okay, I’m all done,” said Meyd. “You’re welcome. Can I get a ride back to that comfy island now?”

 

* * *

 

“That was nice of Te Fiti to give Maui a new fishhook,” Kairi said. After dropping off Meyd, they sailed back to Moana’s home island of Motunui, where Moana reunited with her father, the chief. “So he went off to find his village again? The one he stole the heart for?”

 

“He did,” said Moana. The village had celebrated her safe return for the whole day since they’d been back, releasing even more boats that hadn’t been sailed in years, according to Moana. They accompanied her to the highest point in the village, where she said she needed to place something upon an altar that would represent her legacy.

 

Aqua put a hand on Xion’s shoulder as they walked, letting the others get ahead of them. “Xion, can I tell you a secret?”

 

Xion watched the others go ahead, not noticing that the two of them had stopped, but turned to Aqua. “Of course you can.”

 

“Yesterday, you asked me what I saw in the Realm of Monsters that caused me to freeze up,” she said. She took a deep breath. “It was… myself. A phantom of myself that’s been haunting me ever since I came back to the Realm of Light. I still see her, still hear the awful things she said to me all those years…”

 

“It’s okay,” said Xion. “I understand. You know… you shouldn’t be afraid to lean on the ones you love. I’m glad you told me, but you should tell Terra or even Ven. They’d do nothing but support you through this.”

 

Aqua sighed, but steeled herself. “You’re right. Terra will… he can keep me grounded.”

  
Xion smiled, but looked ahead at the retreating backs of their friends as they talked with Moana. “I have to tell you a secret, too.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Despite everything, part of me feels like I should be afraid of Riku,” she admitted. “And Naminé and Isa and even Ansem the Wise. After what they did to me. All trying to use me for their own ends. We say we’re all friends, but part of me wonders if I should hate them.” She looked down at her hands, unable to look at whatever expression Aqua gave her. “The other part of me… the other part knows they were right to do what they did. That maybe they should do it again to make everything right. I care for them, and I know they care for me and Sora even more.”

 

Aqua put a hand over her heart. “I don’t really know what you mean,” she said. “I don’t know what happened between all of you.” She furrowed her brow in worry. “I… I’m sorry that I don’t know where you’re going with this, but I’m going to tell you the same advice you gave me. Talk to Axel or Roxas. Or even Riku himself - you two seem closer than you think. You volunteered to join him, join us, in coming to this world, after all.”

 

Xion stared at his back as he grew more and more distant. Indeed, she only felt like she was able to tell Aqua this because Aqua had no idea about Xion's origins. “You’re right,” she said. “I did. I think I know what to do now. Thank you, Aqua.”

 

“Let’s hurry back to the others,” Aqua said, somewhat unnerved. “We fell behind. Thank you, Xion.”

 

They caught up with Riku, Kairi, and Moana just in time to reach the top, where they found dozens of flat stones all piled on top of each other over what looked like centuries, considering their age. Moana stood in front of it, holding up a seashell.  “And now… It’s my turn to take my place. I must become the chief of my village.”

 

“Moana, wait,” said Kairi, approaching her tentatively. “Before you do that, we need your help.”

 

“What is it?” she asked, brushing her hair out of her face. “I owe all of you for all the help you gave me.”

 

“We need you to come with us,” Kairi continued. “To another world. Please.”

 

Riku put a hand on his hip. “Because you’re a Princess of Heart. And we’ve got to save you from Meyd’s associates who wish to do you harm.”

 

“Huh?” Moana asked. “What do you mean?”

 

Xion stepped forward. “Well, it’s a long story…”

 

* * *

“Aw, c’mon, my relaxation time was already interrupted by those guys.” Meyd sat back in his hammock, trying to enjoy the coconut milk drink in his hands. This world was great - but only if the others would let him relax in peace.

 

“I regret assigning this world to you,” said the woman in the blue cloak and Serpent mask. Meyd wondered how she wasn’t sweltering under there. “You may have sealed the keyhole, thus saving this world from the flood of light, but you did nothing to secure the one with the pure heart.”

 

He waved his hand dismissively at her. “There’s plenty of time for that. I can go pick up the princess later. Sunlight time is precious time when I’ve got to get my tan on.”

 

“The Guardians of Light already took her with them,” she said with annoyance. “They outnumber us, Meyd, so we cannot afford to be lazy. I was busy saving another world so I was unable to join you here.”

 

“Ugh, you guys ask for too much of me, Master Invi,” he said. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I don’t remember that time before the First Keyblade War, so I can’t really comment on that past me, but I didn’t choose this. And I didn’t choose to be a Dandelion.”

 

“You did,” she said flatly. “If Ava asked you. You just don’t remember the time before the war.”

 

“Whatever.”

 

“I thought you didn’t want to be ‘benched’ again.”

 

“I don’t, but I can only accomplish one thing at a time, man!”

 

Invi sighed and opened a dark corridor. “Our mission is important for all the worlds, Meyd. Get your act together. If you don’t, you know what will happen.”

 

He sat up with a sigh, resigning himself to having to leave the island. “Uh, remind me again?”

 

“All of our actions are to prevent the rise of the ‘Almighty Light,’” she said. “Superbia.”

 

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Right.” He slumped after her into the dark corridor, vanishing.

 

Deeper into the island, Maleficent watched the two of them vanish. Pete stood at her side, fanning himself to stave off the heat. “Superbia, the Almighty Light,” she said to herself. “Well… I have never heard  _ that _ name before.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that interested me about this chapter was that Xion wasn't going to be in it. At all. It was just gonna be a Riku, Kairi, and Aqua adventure while Xion stayed behind in Traverse Town with Ven and Terra, but as I was writing their scene with Gula I just took Xion out of it and transplanted her into this chapter and ended up making her the POV. Funny how that happens.
> 
> Also, I never saw Moana until I started writing this fic. And hoo boy, it could fit so well thematically into a KH game that I'm surprised they didn't add it into KH3! Oh wait, I know why. Frozen's popularity.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!


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